City of the Dead

Chapter 21

'Death is only the beginning'

Those words are still repeating in my head after the events of Hamunaptra. That faint whisper that crawls behind my ears, as I am reminded of the horrors of Hamunaptra and the curse that befell my friends. It has been a week since the events and I was still adjusting to the dilemmas that had landed on my lap. One was that Qasim and I did not have a place to call home. Even though we spent a few nights residing in the Museum of Antiquities, I knew we couldn't stay there. After fixing the broken door in the main entrance of the museum and cleaning up most of the mess inside, I felt it was best to leave the museum and head back to the military base hotel, to collect my and my friends' belongings.

Once we had arrived, after explaining to the staff my current situation, I wanted to collect my friends' belongings as I knew the families would want to keep them as a memory of them. Once the staff let me into our old rooms to collect our belongings, I knew I was going to have to pick and choose what I could bring back, as I had nowhere to keep these items.

The first room that they allowed me in was Bernard's room. As I entered the room with Qasim, a chill ran down my spine as I am reminded of my first encounter with Imhotep. The horrible screams that haunts my dreams throughout the night, echoing in my mind.

Trying not to think of it too much, I get to work on collecting a few items of Bernard. The first being his glasses, he would always finnick with these damn things, constantly cleaning or adjusting them to fit his needs. The second item that I collected was his camera. I knew he had taken pictures of our group when we had first arrived in Cairo and it would be nice to have a picture for his family and I.

The next room that I wanted to go through was David's, as it was right next door to Bernard's room. Opening the door to his room, it was a bit messy as there were some of his clothes thrown on the floor. After picking through his belongings, I thought it best to take his gun that I already had in possession back home for his father and mother. I also found that deck of old playing cards that we had used during our night on that god forsaken boat we took to Hamunaptra, to take as a reminder of how much he loved to gamble.

As I was wrapping up David's room, my heart was beating as I knew the next room was going to hurt the most. We walked out of David's room, with Qasim helping me hold the few items that I wanted to bring back. Following one of the staff members to open Isaac's room, I took a deep breath, bracing myself for what I was about to endure. As the door opened, a small gust of wind hit my face, with the familiar scent of Isaac along with it. We walked in, I took in the room as I familiarized myself with Isaac's belongings. I started in the bathroom, looking through his toiletries, to find the one item I knew he would have. It was a Williams AquaVelva after shave, this alone, was the one thing that I most certainly wanted. It reminded me of the first time he ever started shaving in high school, he showed up to class with cuts on his face from shaving the night before. I remember David, Bernard and I laughing at him, thinking it was the stupidest thing he could have done. But his excuse was always the same, Why would I hide my handsome face under a beard? Thinking back at it now, every time he would shave his peach fuzz, the comforting smell of his aftershave is probably what I was drawn to.

I placed the after-shave bottle in my bag, continuing to look through his belongings. I got to his clothes, which wasn't much, but I knew that there was one thing his mother would have wanted from him, and it would be his hat that his father gave him before he left. He never really talked about his father, much like I never really talked about my mother. We both had this understanding to not talk much about them as it was too painful of a topic. But when Isaac did talk about his father, it was only in regards to what his relationship was before he left his mother. When I found his hat, it was flattened by the piles of clothing on top of it. I tried my best to fix it as best as I could but holding his hat in my hands made me emotional. I started crying without realizing it. Qasim took notice and gave me a hug to try and stop me from crying more. I stopped and looked at Qasim with a big smile on my face to tell him thank you.