An announcement came over the speakers, "Attention to all museum visitors. We will be closing in five minutes. Please begin making your way to the exits. Thank you."
I had no intention of doing that. I casually slipped into the men's room. I entered one of the stalls and closed the door behind me. I pulled out the fax that listed the guard schedule. I looked for a gap in security at any point so I could leave the washroom. I needed to figure it out before 6:10. At that point a guard checks the washroom for intruders and locks it. Thankfully I was on the same floor as Chester's office, but it would still be a difficult journey. After looking over the sheet several times, I found the break I needed. At exactly 6:05, Bob, the guard who normally watches the section the washroom was in while the museum was open, left his post to head home for the night. At night time, there aren't as many security guards. Jim patrolled five different sections during the night, starting at the other end of the museum. He would be the one locking the bathroom. That means that at 6:05 I should be able to slip out of here and make my way to Chester's office.
The time passed slowly, but it was finally 6:05. I opened the door to the washroom, just a crack and took a peak outside. There was no sign of any security guards, but I had to move fast before Jim came by. I found my way to the office corridor, being careful not to be seen in any security cameras. Only one guard patrolled the corridor. At this point in time he was going in and out of every office checking for intruders. It took him about a minute to check each office. That would give me plenty of time to enter the codes to Chester's office and get inside without him noticing me. From the pattern he was checking them in, he'd already done Chester's. He entered an office and I quickly (but quietly) walked down to Chester's office. I entered the two codes. Thankfully, they worked, or I'd be in a whole heap of trouble. I went inside and closed the door behind me.
After I got inside, it occurred to me I had no idea what I was looking for. Then I remembered the name that was on the fax. Johnson. I went trough Chester's roll-a-decks looking for the name Johnson. There were two, but only one got my attention. It was a man by the name of Joseph Johnson. I pulled out the fax and a pen and wrote down his address and phone number. I put the fax back in my pocket and began looking through Chester's desk drawers. Nothing caught my interest. At that point, something on the wall caught my eye. A painting of the Pagunda statuette. I went over to it and looked behind it. Nothing. Maybe there was something interesting on the back of the painting. I pulled it off the wall and set it down on the desk. I opened it up the proper way from the back, so that I could put it back the way I originally found it. After removing the cardboard backing, I noticed there was something written on the back of the painting. It said "The End: 7/21/44." I looked down at my watch. It was the 19th, there were only two days left. What it said under that caught my attention even more:
"May 22, 2044: We dug up a statuette today, of the warrior Pagunda. Jules is ecstatic, but I'm not so sure we should be rejoicing. According to legend Pagunda is 'superhuman' and the natives of this area have stories of horrific events that occurred in this area hundreds of years ago. They claim it was the wrath of Pagunda for disturbing his home. Apparently, a war once broke out between two native tribes in this area. During the battle, Pagunda's shrine, where the statuette was originally located, was damaged. They say that in revenge he did horrible things, but eventually came to a deal with them. If they were to put him in a private home where no one would disturb him, he would end his reign of terror on the natives. They quickly built him an underground 'home' where they placed his statuette. Once he was back inside they sealed it up and buried it. The stories also say that if anyone disturbs him, he would continue his reign of terror, ultimately destroying the entire planet, which, according to the natives would last 60 days. They did say, however, that the truly good would be spared and sent to Pagunda's sanctuary, his realm. The realm of dreams. The rest would be sent to the opposing realm, that of Kitunda, the realm of nightmares where they would live in fear for the rest of eternity. Kitunda and Pagunda share a bitter rivalry. If anything starts to go wrong, I need to find a way to bring them face to face in hopes that they destroy each other so that the people of earth can be spared. Hopefully I'm reading too much into this, but at least I have a plan to save the world, if the stories become reality."
I stared at the page for a few more seconds. Now there was more than just Pagunda, there was Kitunda as well. And apparently the only way to save the world is to bring the two together. I have no idea how to even go about doing that. Maybe Joseph Johnson could help. The man who jumped off Rusty's roof did mention he'd have my answers. Hopefully he has the answer to how I can find Pagunda and Kitunda and bring the two together.
I put the painting back together and hung it up on the wall. At that point I heard the guard walking down the hallway passed Chester's office. He stopped. Was he going to come inside? Then I remembered, I had turned off the security system. That means the keypad said "Deactivated" in big red writing. I had to get out of here, now. I opened the window and slipped out onto the ledge. I closed the window behind me. I heard the guard enter Chester's office and look around.
"Guess I just forgot to reactivate the security system after I checked the office before," he said to himself as he left the office.
I knew at that point there was no going back in. The guard would be activating the security system in a few seconds, if he hadn't already. I looked down. I was on the second floor of the museum, and there was only a four metre drop. To make it easier on myself, I hung off the ledge so my feet would be closer to the ground. I let go and fell the remaining few metres. The ground wasn't too hard, thankfully.
I found the nearest 24 hour cafe. I needed a coffee to help keep me awake. I thought it was best not to see Joseph until at least 7PM, that way he'd be awake, but it was still twelve hours away. I stayed at the cafe for about 3 hours. I had quite a few coffees. I had enough caffeine in my system to go without sleep for days, and at this point I didn't want to sleep. I couldn't stand having another one of those dreams. I strolled the city for hours until it was finally 7PM. I found the nearest bus stop. I was going to see Joseph Johnson. |
