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| Marion ([email protected]) August 24, 2002 She could remember the day perfectly if anyone were to ask, and someone just had. Tears slipped silently down her cheeks as her eyes squeezed shut. She let out a small squeal as her breath caught in her throat. The seven year-old Evelyn Carnahan sat in her window seat overlooking downtown Cairo- her nose buried in a book. Her lips moved along with the words and presently a small smile took shape on her face. "You know, if you keep reading those dreadful books of yours your life is going to whisk by you and you will never be able to look back to find where you got mixed up." Her older brother interrupted, breaking her concentration. "And if you, dear brother continue to attend those parties of yours, which you favor so much, you won't have a life to even try to remember." "Well, well, well, Evie, for a girl of only seven years of age you sure do seem to notice a lot." "I don't notice a lot Jonathan, you're just stupid!" "Now, now Evelyn, I was just doing a bit of teasing, no reason to be rude." Knock. Knock. Came the resonant sound from the door in Evelyn and Jonathan's room. "Come in!" Evelyn answered giggling, for Jonathan had her rolling on the floor tickling her. Their nana stepped in through the door. Her eyes were downcast and she was slouching dreadfully. Her arms hung limply at her sides like two wet noodles, swaying in the slight afternoon breeze. "Yes Nana?" Jonathan asked. "What's wrong?" He questioned noticing her posture. "Oh, my dear children." She said as she began to sob. "There has been an unfortunate turn of events." Evelyn looked at her brother, and he shrugged his shoulders raising his eyebrows. "What is it Nana?" Evelyn pleaded. "Tell us what's wrong." Her voice was choked to the teeth with panic. Her darling little face was shrouded in dark curls and her breath was coming fast. "Your parents are dead my dears!" She covered her face with her hands, shoulders shaking with her cries. There was a moment of silence before "You lie!" Evelyn screamed. "It can not be true! You lie! I don't believe you! My parents are on a dig down in Luxor. They will be back tomorrow!" Her tiny frame shook with anger. Jonathan stood like a statue behind his sister. The words still sinking into his brain. He could not bring himself to believe the words that his nana had uttered, but somehow, just somehow he knew she spoke the truth. It was as if he had felt their presence's disappear. He knew they were gone, extinguished like a match in a puddle of water. The thought unnerved him. His eyes were drawn to the site before him and Evelyn spoke in slow motion. "They're...not...dead! They...can't...be...!" Jonathan stiffly walked over to her and drew her into his arms. "They are Evelyn, you can't deny it, they aren't here any longer. I don't know how I know it, but they aren't, they're dead. Can't you feel it?" She struggled against the fierce hold her brother had on her. Tears began to stream down her face as she screamed. "NO! It's not true, I don't believe you! How can you say that Jonathan? THEY'RE NOT DEAD! Are they?" Every word she spoke cut deeper into his heart, and finally he could not bear it any longer. "Evelyn, listen to me. Listen to me!" He screamed in her face. "They're dead!" He looked into her eyes, focusing on her inner strength deep within. Allah give me the strength to get through this. Jonathan muttered. He brought his thumbs up to her cheeks brushing her river of tears away. "Oh Evie, don't cry, hush old mum." Evelyn's heart felt like it was being ripped from her ribcage. Her cries were physically tearing her apart. How could her parents be dead? They were coming back. They would be home tomorrow laughing and talking about their expedition, wouldn't they? The unanswered question left her empty and frightened. She flung her arms around her brother and he latched onto her with all his strength. "I love you Evie, we will never part from each other, I promise. I won't leave you. But you must understand they aren't coming back." He said as his own tears began to flow freely, no longer able to be held back by fake boyish strength. Jonathan placed his head on top of his sister's and gave in to his grief shuddering. "I am so sorry." Could be heard as Nana backed out of the room. There was a click as the door latched closed, the horrible sounds of two heartbroken children were dimmed slightly by the barrier but could be heard down the hall and in the kitchen where nana retreated to prepare dinner she knew would never be eaten. She shut the door on that facet of her life, pushing herself onto the next. Adinah and Howard weren't coming back. They were gone forever. She choked back another sob as she put the pork onto the griddle turning it slightly. What would happen to the children? Evelyn turned to her thirteen year-old son, her face streaked with tears. "I'm sorry mum, I didn't mean to upset you like that. I didn't know how much it would hurt you to remember." "Oh sweetie, it's ok. I just can't tell you about it right now. Maybe in a little bit, but it still hurts too much." She engulfed Alex in a hug, grateful she was alive to enjoy watching him grow, and praying that it would stay that way forever. Penny ([email protected]) August 28, 2002 Rick O'Connell watched his wife and son from the doorway of the library. She hugged Alex tightly to her, as if she were afraid her son would disappear, if she let him go. He thought back to the previous week. Evie found her mother's journal tucked away in a trunk. Since then life at the O'Connell Manor had been turned upside down. Evie had changed. His Evie, the love of his life. His tough, smart little wife, who once had raised the dead and then sent the bastard back to hell...The mother of his child, who fought tooth and nail, to save their son at Ahm Shere, who after helping her husband save him , was she herself killed and raised from the dead...hadn't blinked once...Now his sweet, lovable Evie was reduced to a sad, forlorn, tearful mess. And all because of that damned journal! Why? Because he couldn't leave well enough alone. "Common Alex", he had said. "Let's go see if we can find that leak in the attic roof, before we have to build an ark. Go get your Uncle Jon. We'll need all the help we can get." So all four of them traipsed onward and upward to the attic. Indeed there was a hole in the attic work. Not a big one thank God. It could be repaired with minimum repair, Evie had said. Then she spotted the trunk. It sat directly under the hole in the roof. Probably in it's heyday it had been brown. Now it was faded to a filthy tan and water streaked. "Oh no! Jonathan! This was Mother's trunk! Help me! Help me move it out from under the hole. There's water dripping on it!" What had started out as a simple expedition to a known destination, quickly turned to despair for the unsuspecting adventurers, after Evie found the journal. And to make matters worse Jonathan seemed to have been struck with the same melancholia. Rick continued to watch his wife and son, letting his mind wonder to Jonathan. The man didn't cry openly. No. At least not to where anyone with half a brain could see. But Rick didn't have half a brain. He wasn't someone who just fell off a turnip truck. No sir! Not Rick O'Connell! He had a brain and eyes. Jonathan would go off and walk the grounds for hours at a time. Then when he came back in his eyes were red and puffy. He hardly spoke two or three words and half the time the were unintelligible. Some thing had to be done and quick! The O'Connells and the Carnahans were on a downhill slide and picking up speed! Chamberlain's words kept coming back to haunt Rick. It repeated itself over and over in his head like a mantra. "YOU MUST NOT READ FROM THE BOOK!" Damn would they never learn? Shelby ([email protected]) August 30, 2002 Always in sleep, Rick held his wife close to him, and this night like so many nights past, he reached out for his wife, his hand meeting only the cold mattress and pillow, an indication that she had not come to bed as she had told him |