Part 2: Dream turned to nightmare

We took our first uncertain steps into the pyramid. A scent of mould mixed with sand penetrated my nostrils and it evoked images of ancient Egyptian myths into my head.

The torches that were hanging on the walls suddenly lit up and I tried to calm Ray down by telling him that the lighting is probably a modern addition to make it more impressive for tourists and that it has to be controlled by a motion sensor.

We were both examining our surroundings in awe (well, for Ray it was mostly fear) admiring the carvings and the wall paintings while moving deeper inside the pyramid.

We reached a chamber with statues representing gods – mainly Anubis I presumed, as the head of most of the statues was like that of a dog. Being a primary school teacher, I couldn’t resist narrating everything I knew about the things we saw to Ray, knowing that although he was definitely amazed by what he saw, he wouldn’t really be interested in the history. Much like most of my students… Just as I expected, he started to yawn as loudly as he could, which left me no choice but to mock him about how similar his mental age was to the age of my students.

Some kind of a wall switch caught my attention. It looked like a carving on the wall but I was convinced it was hiding something, since there was a square area right next to it that looked strange and was the size of what could be a door. I went closer to examine it.

“Hey Ray, come take a look at this. I think it must be a hidden door.”

No answer.

I turned around to see what he was doing, but he was nowhere near. “Ray? … Ray??”

Several moments went by in total silence.

“Oh poo… this is not the time for a joke! Come out. We should stick together. Ray!!”

No reply.

“That stupid bastard always picks the wrong time to pull his stupid pranks”, I thought. What if he steps on a trap? What if he gets lost in there? …

I didn’t know how long it had been since I had lost him, but it looked like eternity and I was getting agitated. “RAY!!!” I shouted. Damn. I hit the wall with my hands. He will pay for this.

“ALY!! …AAAAARRRGH! ALYSSA!!” I heard Ray screaming shortly after, but the screams sounded so distant. My brain refused to cooperate. The only thing that I could process was that he never calls me Aly, he calls me Lou just to get on my nerves, because he knows I hate it. Calling me Aly, let alone Alyssa, means it’s serious.

“RAY!! WHERE ARE YOU??” I yelled, while running around in a helpless effort to see him, but I soon felt I was on the verge of collapsing from fear and tension, so I stopped and put my hands on my knees to catch my breath and to try to identify the direction that his screams were coming from. I looked around and I noticed that a great amount of sand was floating on the air, as if something very large had just been moved or disturbed.

“ALY… AGHHH!!!”  His screams were so intense as if he was being tortured, and yet they were so far away that I couldn’t tell where they were coming from.

I started running again in panic, and I was shaking like crazy. “RAAAAY!!!” My throat hurt from screaming out so loudly. Tears filled up my eyes. What the heck is happening?

To my utter terror the lights suddenly went out. I was searching for my flashlight when I felt a sharp pain, unlike any I had felt before, all over my body. Then, I lost my senses.