Chapter 40 - [Beauty and the Experience]

31.6K 1.5K 305
                                    


Okay so... not having a phone kind of sucked. Not only was I just dying to talk to Ro, but there were so many things here that I really wanted to take pictures of.

And I was going to be spending a week on a boat... what else could I possibly do aside from read or scroll through Instagram?

Unfortunately, neither of those were an option.

When I got onto the boat, I was surprised but at the same time, not surprised.

It was a beautiful boat... but it was no luxury liner. And it was definitely not the Titanic.

It was small and long, and there were no rooms or anything below deck. From front to back it looked about twenty big steps long, and from side to side it looked between eight and ten.

It was definitely small.

There were a ton of guys who sat along the side of the boat, oars in hand. Atem had mentioned to me that normally, going downstream meant there were no need for rowers... but we needed to get to Memphis fast.

Hence, the rowers. All of which were men who looked at me with curiosity in their eyes.

They seemed friendly though, and they smiled back at me when I smiled at them.

The middle of the boat consisted of the only room on the ship, and to be honest, it wasn't even a room. It was a squared area that was sectioned off by light, lavender coloured curtains.

No time was wasted once we entered the boat. Almost immediately, the man who I considered was the captain of the ship, adjusted the sails and signaled the rowers who began to row.

For the beginning of the trip, I sat inside that little curtained area. There was a nice, fluffy mattress in there and so I laid down in that and stared at the sky through the opening at the top.

Atem stayed outside until it began to get dark out. When he finally came in, he looked at me with a raised brow. "What are you doing, staying cooped up in here?"

I sat up on the mattress, "well, there's nothing I can do outside, is there?"

"No," he said. "But you'll get sick if you spend too much time in here. This place is meant only for sleeping. You should sit outside and enjoy the view."

"Well, it's too late now," I said, referring to the fact that it was night out.

Egypt was really dark when it was night out. It wasn't like back at home, where there were streetlights everywhere and the headlights of cars shining through your window as they passed by. It was pitch dark.

Right now, however, little skinny candles were all that kept this place up. But Atem went around and blew them out.

It took my eyes a second to adjust to the darkness. "The boat is still moving right?" I think I had gotten used to the sway of the boat.

Atem nodded as he sat next to me on the mattress. "The rowers are taking turns rowing through the night. Usually we do not sail at night but we have no time to waste."

I turned my head and watched as he began to take all the jewelry he was wearing off. I had already done so. It took a long time to figure out the hooks and the clasps and I pinched my skin here and there but I figured it out.

When he was finished, I held my left hand out for him to see. "Look what your mom gave me."

Atem took my left hand in his and examined the ring. "Hmm," he started. "You should be honored. My mother cherished that ring."

Beauty and the PharaohWhere stories live. Discover now