So I’m a little late posting this, and that’s totally on me. I underestimated the amount of time I’d spend working on revisions. Even after having read the comments from my amazing critique partner KJ Harrowick, I thought it was going to be a simple “move this around, change this, boom! Done!”
It did not turn out that way. As soon as I started making changes, I feel like my characters lost some of the charm I loved about them. Everything felt weird and off, and I got frustrated and set the computer down for way too long. That’s all my fault, but I think that the story is better off now, even without some of the pieces I loved. Besides, there’s always next week to finish polishing and make sure that everything is perfect.
So with all of that being said, please enjoy Wrapped Away!
Wrapped Away
Why did I ever think this was a good idea?
The words ran through my head like bunnies chasing each other around in the yard.
“Five more minutes. Five more, and we can go back outside.” I sank back into my nook behind the couch of the upstairs room. “How did we get wrangled into this again?” I asked Alice, who was sitting next to me inspecting the wall that created the nook we were in.
“Truth or dare.” Alice glared at me, “This is your fault Sammie. I didn’t want to play, but it’s your birthday party. Now I’m sitting here hiding from a mummy!”
“I can’t help that Ariel came up with the idea to sneak into the old creepy house down the road.” I said, as lightning lit up the room from outside. “Plus, it couldn’t be a mummy. They don’t exist.”
“Of course they exist. They’re in museums, and Egypt. They’re laying in glass cases, or being buried under pyramids. They’re literally everywhere.” She said sarcastically.
“Exactly. They’re everywhere that isn’t here. We just saw a shadow from the lightning.” I said reassuringly, trying to convince myself more than her. This definitely wasn’t the dare we thought it was going to be. It was supposed to be a simple 30 minutes, proving how brave we are, and coming back to the party as ultimate victors of the game. Instead, it turned into a nightmare with us fighting to make it to the end.
“I’m going to check out the clock, it feels different than everything else.” Alice said.
“What do you mean it’s different?” I asked, chasing after her. As I walked through the room I noticed how nothing was new. There were old records that my grandma would listen to laying on a table, covered in a thick layer of dust. They had to be 100 years old at this point. I nearly tripped over some warped floorboards on the way to the clock, and a chair had tons of stains and holes ripped in it too.
“At least the floor is hard wood. Think of all the bug eggs that could be hiding in carpet. That would be the worst.” I said, trying to lighten the mood.
“Ugh! Sammie, that image was not what I needed right now.” She said standing near the clock.
“Why is everything pointing at the clock?” I asked. The chairs all faced it, like it was the tv in my living room.
“Look at this, there’s no dust anywhere on this clock,” she said, ignoring my question. “There aren’t footprints leading to it either.”
Suddenly, the clock began to ring. Loud, deep notes emanated from the clock.
Midnight.
Before I could take a step back, the clock itself began to slide away from the spot it was resting.
“What did you do?” I shrieked at Alice
“Nothing, I swear!. It just started started moving,” she screamed back, never looking away from the spot the clock used to stand. Lightning flashed again, lighting up a large hole in the wall. Not very deep, but tall enough that a person could fit into it.
Another flash of lighting illuminated what hid behind the clock. Standing before us was the shape of a body, wrapped in dusty, torn, stained cloth. I stood there, mouth open, trying to take in what I was seeing. Before I could scream, IT groaned a loud, guttural, noise. Alice and I bolted as fast as we could towards the door.
Alice was always faster than me in gym class, so when she passed me, it made sense. I’d be the one to die here in this old haunted house at the hands of a mummy.
“It’s chasing us!” She screamed as she went by. I didn’t dare look behind me, for fear that my legs would turn to jelly and then I’d really be done for. Alice began to toss anything she could reach behind her in an attempt to slow It down. First was a record off the entertainment center, then a large lamp shaped like a mermaid. It was so gaudy looking, that I’d throw it too, even if there wasn’t a mummy chasing us.
“Stop! You’re hitting me, not It!” I yelled, but Alice continued to throw things as fast as she could. We ran down the hallway and several small porcelain figurines came flying by my face, forcing me to duck. Judging by the sound of the mummy behind me, it wasn’t as agile as I was, which gave me some confidence that maybe we’d make it out of this house. I rounded the corner sharply, and relief fell over me. Alice was standing just outside, with the door wide open.
“Hurry, It’s behind you!”
“I know It’s behind me! Would I be running away if it was in front of me?” I shot back. Passing through the doorway, the rain felt like freedom and safety all rolled up into one. Alice slammed the door behind me, and we heard a crash. The mummy must have run right into the door.
“Hopefully it doesn’t know how to use a door handle” she giggled. The relief of surviving an actual mummy was too much to contain and I burst out laughing with her.
“Come on, lets go find Ariel. She needs some payback for this dare.” I said, taking off towards home.
We rushed home, where I was expecting to be greeted with cheers for our bravery and success. Instead, we found a house with no lights on.
“That’s weird, why would they go to bed without us?” I asked, staring at the second floor window that marked my room. “Let’s go wake them up.”
We snuck back inside and made our way upstairs. Opening the door, I wasn’t greeted by friends asleep on the floor. Instead, it was the same old, dusty cloth we’d seen in the hole in the wall.
“Mummy!”
Doores Ajar 