The Find of the Century

                Lewis turned the key in the lock to the main doors and waved off Dr. Whemple.  The darkened museum was always his favorite place to be.  It was quiet, there were things to be learned from the exhibits, and there were always books. 

He’d been looking forward to this week for months.  This was the week they brought in the treasures from the Egyptian dig.  He’d been following it closely.  Dr. Whemple and his associates finally discovered the long lost burial site of Imhotep. 

It was all very exciting for Lewis.  He didn’t know much about Egypt or its history, but he thought he could use the information.  He had another date with Elizabeth on Tuesday and she had even mentioned how much she loved Egyptian history and was excited to hear about the exhibit of the high priest Imhotep coming to their town.  He was planning on learning everything there was to know about Imhotep to impress her.  She was beautiful and smart and maybe, just maybe, he could trick her into falling in love with him.

He whistled as he opened the door to the curating room.  He knew he wasn’t allowed in the room without supervision, Dr. Whemple made sure that no one went into the room without him but what was the harm?  Lewis only wanted to get some firsthand experience to show off for Elizabeth. 

The room was incredible.  It was dusty, sure, but all the artifacts came from Egypt.  What else could he expect coming from all that sand?

The first thing he noticed was the sarcophagus.  It was stone and had the shape of a man carved into the lid.  The carving had crossed arms was holding a flail and maybe a hook.  He hoped those things had a name.  He would love to regale Elizabeth with that knowledge. 

He turned to the table and saw an old parchment underneath a heavy glass.  It was in a language he couldn’t understand, but he gave it a shot anyway.  The words stumbled over his tongue, but he finished and shrugged. Maybe he could regurgitate that and say it was some kind of prayer to impress Elizabeth. He tried it again.

A moment later a large crash came from behind him.  He twisted just as the candles blew out and the room was plunged into darkness.

“Damn,” he said under his breath and patted his uniform until he found a box of matches.  He lit one and held it high and blood instantly drained from his face.  The lid of the sarcophagus had fallen off and smashed on the ground.  That was it.  He was going to get fired.  There was no way Dr. Whemple would forgive something like this!

Then he heard something move behind him.  It almost sounded like someone dragging a sheet over the ground.

  He turned and held the match high.  He thought he saw movement for a second but the match burned his finger and he dropped it, cursing.  He got another match and struck it on the box.  The light bloomed and illuminated a figure standing before him.  It had old rotten cloth wrapped around it, covering the entirety of its body.  It lifted an arm out to him, cloth hanging loose, showing a brown, wrinkled skeletal hand with long twisted and yellowed nails.

Lewis screamed and jumped back, swiping his hand at the thing.  His finger caught on a strand of the rotted cloth covering the thing’s face.  The cloth pulled free, taking with it a part of the creatures dehydrated skin.  The cloth began to unravel as the second match burned Lewis’ finger.

He cursed and fell backwards.  He struck another match.  It bloomed and he immediately wished it hadn’t.  The wrappings had fallen free of the face of the creature.  Its skin was rotten and twisted, with intermittent holes, showing bone and blackness of its mouth.  The eyeballs were gone, replaced with some kind of beetles crawling in and out of the empty sockets.  Its teeth were long and yellow and pointed.

Lewis was sure it laughed at him.  He screamed as it grasped his arm with its rotten hand.  Its grip was stronger than anything he’d ever felt before and it snapped one of the bones in his forearm. 

The creature lifted him up by his ruined arm, bringing him face to face with its horrible rotten visage.  Its breath smelt like decay and hot sand.  It opened its mouth wider than Lewis thought possible and one of those beetles began to crawl out.

Lewis screamed again and when he opened his mouth, the beetle flew into it.  He could feel it crawl down his throat.  He tried to scream, but no sound came out.  Two more beetles crawled out of the creature’s eyes.  They landed on Lewis’ nose and forced their way into his nostrils…

Dr. Whemple stood outside the door, waiting for Lewis to unlock it for him.

  “About time Lewis!”  Whemple cried as Lewis swung the door wide for him.  “My lord man, you look terrible.  Maybe you should head home and get some rest!” 

Lewis didn’t respond, but Whemple could see a beetle crawl over the back of Lewis’ hand.

“Lewis!  Wipe that off!  Why, that looked suspiciously like a scarab!  You weren’t bitten were you? Those can be terribly poisonous!”  Whemple asked.

Lewis pointed behind Whemple into the Museum.  The doctor, confused, turned to see what Lewis was pointing at.  A large figure limped towards them.

“Who…” Whemple began, but Lewis grabbed him in a bear hug trapping his arms to his sides.

“Lewis!  What is the meaning of this!”

The Mummy opened its rotten mouth and a scarab crawled out of it.  Whemple screamed.