The Burden Continues

Chapter Six

As the night began and the museum came to life, everyone started to go on about their business, Larry walked in surprised not to see Ahk. He walked over to Teddy and Sacagawea.

"Has anybody seen Ahk yet?" he questioned.

"No, he hasn't come out of his chamber still" Sacagawea replied.

"Weird he's usually here by now. I'll go check on him" With that Larry went off in the direction of the young King's tomb.

He walked inside noticing the open sarcophagus. The man looked around failing to detect his missing friend.

"Ahkmerah." he called out.

"Over here." a smooth voice mumbled.

Larry turned around to see Ahkmerah sat on the floor in a corner hidden away from the public's view. He sat there, with a small jar of ointment by his side, rubbing the substance into his skin.

"You weren't downstairs with the rest, I thought something had happened."

"Oh, no everything's good. I'm still sore so I thought I'd try this to see if it would do anything, I didn't really want to be doing it in front of the others. Have some privacy, you know? It helped a little, but I suppose my discomfort will only increase as time passes." The Pharaoh explained.

"And just what are you doing on the floor?" Larry furrowed his brows in confusion.

"I don't fit in my sarcophagus, there's very little space in there as is, much less now, I couldn't close the lid and you said to hide so, here I am." Ahk lowered his gaze to the ground.

"You've been like that all day? That can't be comfortable." Larry pointed out.

"Well I didn't feel anything during the day it's only once the night settled in that all the pain came flooding." said Ahk.

"Okay, come and sit on the couch in the break room I can't have you sitting on the floor in your condition. We'll have to go there to make the potion anyway." The nightguard stated and helped Ahk get off the ground.

While they started walking Larry slowly took the lead, after a moment he realized Ahk wasn't next to him anymore. He turned around to check on him. Lo and behold Ahkmenrah was still behind him slowly making his way over to him.

"Hey, you're okay?"

"Yeah I'm good, I just can't really walk that quickly as of late. You try and adjust to carrying an 18-pound mound in front of you within hours." The young Egyptian snapped.

"Waoh relax, ok I didn't say anything." The older man tried to defend himself.

Ahk sighed in defeat.

"I'm sorry Larry, I'm having a hard time controlling my emotions lately." The Pharaoh looked ashamed.

"That's okay Ahk. It's not your fault, I understand." The guard affirmed.

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As they made their way into the room Sacagawea followed them in and took a seat next to Ahk on the sofa.

"How are you doing today Ahk? I can't imagine this being easy on you." She said gently caressing his forearm.

Ahkmenrah smiled a little, grateful for her kind words.

"Yes, this hasn't been painless but, I'm dealing with it." He said laying his hand over hers.

They sat there taking the moment in when all of a sudden.