Young Writers Society

"I know those Hieroglyphs....Unless....Someone switched them. Somehow." Natalia felt something, something wrong, deep in her bones. She was still trembling.

Trevor had still been peering at the door when what seemed to be a living mummy popped out of it. He tried--and failed--to stifle a high-pitched cry at the sight.

Even more concerning was whatever that Griffith guy had just said--the mummy died two hours ago? How could he know that unless he was there? Not to mention Natalia's supposed knowledge of the hieroglyphs.

"What do you mean?" he asked suspiciously, but just then the mummy lurched forward with a groaning sort of noise and Trevor found himself rapidly scurrying away from the creature.

He pulled up the STATUS again, hoping that he had somehow misread it. But no matter how many times he tried to look at it again, the STATUS failed to change in any way other than the normal one - the time since the mummy had died grew longer and longer.

As he was staring at the little display that only he could see, he suddenly felt someone resting their hands on his shoulders. He swiped the display away and looked down to see who had grabbed him.

He found himself staring at a bandaged body.

He slowly raised his head and stared right into the mummy's face.

He couldn't die. He knew he couldn't die, but the moment that his eyes locked with where the mummy's would have been, he let out a terrified little squeak and frantically tried to pull away. But the mummy had a surprisingly strong grip, and he quickly discovered that pulling away was far from easy to do. He continued to struggle against its grip, simultaneously trying to understand what the heck was happening.

That ultimately proved to be his downfall - there was a loud tearing sound as his suit's sleeves were pulled in one direction while he tried to head to the other, and a popping noise as both of his arms came out of his shoulders. The mummy awkwardly held onto them, as if it wasn't quite sure to do with two squirming skeletal arms. Because even though the majority of the arms were covered in cloth, it was very, very clear that no flesh covered the few parts that showed.

He stared in horror at his detached arms.

"Oh no."

Natalia grabbed the mummy and pulled on it's arm. "Leave. Him. Alone." She said, saying each word clearly. She had an idea, it was a long shot, but it was all they had. The mummy turned towards her, she kept her hand on it's arm, even as she backed away slowly.

Adeline's eyes widened as she heard the screaming from inside the room, and she quickly forgot her fears with the need to help her aquintances. She glanced over at Bleffles quickly.

"We need to help them." She said steadily, not bothering to think before she was charging into the room.

"Help Griffith!" Natalia said as the other two people charged into the room. She had been edging steadily back towards the Sarcophagus. The mummy turned it's head as they entered. Natalia pulled on it's arm again. "I told you to leave them alone! I'm the one who disturbed you." The mummy focused on her again. She hurried her pace and the mummy followed.

Trevor stopped in his tracks and stared in horror as Griffith’s arms popped off. He could’ve sworn that he heard an actual pop. Now would be the perfect time to run far, far away from this place, but he knew he couldn’t do that. Well, he didn’t think that he could get out of the castle, but also humanely he knew he shouldn’t leave Griffith like this.

Natalia seemed to be holding the mummy’s attention well enough, so he darted towards them and managed to snatch one of the arms from its grasp. Trevor turned back to Griffith, intending to offer the arm to him, but suddenly realizing just how poorly that would work.

“Um,” he said awkwardly, unsure of how to hold the arm in his arms or what to do with it. It was so... bony. “Can I... help? Where do you want me to—put this?” He was vaguely aware of Adeline running into the room behind him.

Adeline stepped in and took inventory of the room, trying her best not to let the fear that rushed back paralyze her. There was a mummy that Natalia was fighting, but besides that fact, Griffith was missing his arms. The boy from earlier seemed to be handling the situation with Griffith, and so, not bothering to process everything else, she turned her attention onto the mummy.

"H- how can I help?" She squeaked, keeping pace with Natalia and trying to avoid the bandaged undead.

Natalia looked at the girl besides her. At that moment, the mummy grabbed her. "In the coffin! There is a book with a gold cover. Can you get that?" Natalia felt the panic hit her voice. She hit the arm and then ducked. She had to stay in sight of the mummy, but it was taking all she had to keep from running. Her arm was cold from when the mummy had grabbed her.

"Book... book.." Adeline scrambled over to the open coffin and grabbed the golden book, wincing slightly as one of her fingertips cracked. "I have it!"

Running back over, she tried her best not to trip or break anything else, seeing as how the bubble wrap lining her boots had already popped.

Natalia tried to grab the book. Her left arm was useless. "You'll have to hold it for me." Once they came to the right page, Natalia began to read out-loud. The mummy tried to move, but couldn't. Natalia kept reading, almost tripping in her haste. There was a shimmering, and the mummy was flung into the coffin and the lid snapped shut. Natalia collapsed, exhausted from fear and pain.

Griffith had spent the last few moments staring at Trevor and the detached arm he was awkwardly holding. The question had registered, but he had simply been too terrified of its implications to even offer a response - and there was also the fact that the mummy terrorizing the other occupants of the room still had his other arm.

It was only when the sarcophagus suddenly snapped shut that the world came back into focus around him. The mummy had been sealed away by the book that Natalia was holding, even though Griffith had no idea how that was possible. The very tip of Adeline looked unnatural, but he wasn't sure what the reason for that was, or how something like that could have happened. Trevor stood in front of him with one of his arms, and Bleffles was back out in the hallway.

"I can take my arm," he said, his voice quiet as he took a step in Trevor's direction. Once he was close enough, the arm shot out of his grasp and connected with the rest of his body. He was too distracted by the feelings he was getting from the other arm, which had been trapped inside the sarcophagus when Natalia had sealed away the mummy, to pay much mind to how his sleeve completely slipped off the reattached arm to reveal that it was only bones.

He tried to push off the top just enough for the arm trapped inside to get out, but that did little to help. The arm stood no chance of getting out without him pushing from the outside. Taking a deep breath, he approached the sarcophagus. His arm rested up against the side closest to where he now stood, and he started to carefully push the lid back.

But doing so with one arm was more difficult than expected.

He nervously looked over his shoulder at the other people present in the room. "Could you help me move this lid?" he asked, his attached and detached arms trembling at the thought of the inevitable terror they would feel towards him once the adrenaline faded away and common sense returned.

"I-I think I'll need multiple people to help me," he added.

Adeline stood staring at Griffith and his bone arm reattach vacantly. She had no idea how something like that could have happened, but really, she was in no place to judge him. Her mind twisted in loops as she tried to figure out what he was. Was he another sort of mutation, or oddity? Was he a skeleton completely, or just his arms? And how could they reattach like that?

She was shaken out of her thoughts when he called for help with the sarcophagus. Oh. So his arm was still trapped inside.

Walking over, she braced her arms on the lid and waited for the others. It was kind of risky to push something this heavy and put pressure on her skin, but perhaps with Natalia and Trevor helping, it would be okay.

Hopefully.

Out of everything that happened since Bleffles followed Adeline into the room, only a few things actually registered. The mummy was one, the fleshless arm hanging from Griffith's shoulder was another, and the muffled groans and knocks from inside the sarcophagus blocked out most everything else.

Still, Bleffles scrambled over to the sarcophagus, next to Adeline, and pushed the lid as hard as she could.

She missed the bit where it made sense why they were trying to free the unholy abomination, but these people needed help, and they knew what they were doing, right? Right?

Adeline tried her best to push enough to help, but not enough to break her palms. Her heart beat loudly, and she raised one of her hands to muffle the chimes. The groaning was really doing its best to raise her suspense, so that the moment they made headway in pushing the sarcophagus lid to reveal a crack, she stumbled back to get out of the path of any hands threatening to jump out- skeletal or mummified.

Of course- of course, she had to be gifted with the grace and agility of a toad. Somehow managing to trip backwards on her own feet, she sent herself down a straight path towards the ground.

As her backside made contact with the floor, a loud crashing noise resounded- the unmistakable sound of breaking glass. Not bothering to stand or do anything other than sit miserably on the floor, she buried her face in her hands and let out a low groan of exasperation.