Yesterday was Emily’s birthday. Her parents brought her and her siblings to the
city museum, where a special exhibition took place.
It was rainy in the morning, fortunately back to sunny near afternoon. The family
just finished their lunch at the museum restaurant outdoors. The meal, serves and
surroundings was perfect. Leaves swirled around their feet, carrying the spicy-sweet
scent of autumn. A raindrop hurried down the pane of glass and catch up with another.
Emily distracted when they discussed which showroom they would visit next,
and at the time she backed to herself, she found the jam-packed restaurant was empty.
“Where is Mom? Where is Dad? Where are Nick and Emma?” Emily thought in
a sudden panic, pumping her fist in the air.
“Mom! Dad! Where you are? ” she screamed, but nobody answered her.
Realizing her families wouldn’t appear, Emily felt her heart sink. All of a sudden, she
heard a familiar ringtone─ she received a text message!
It said, “Calm down, sweetie, don’t be worried.”
“Who are you? Where are my families? ” She whispered, and her mouth hung
open and her eyes looked dazed.
“Calm down.” She got a text instantly.
“There is a person monitoring me!” Emily thought. She sat with her hands on her
knees, took a sip of her soda, trying to catch her breath.
“I think I am not nervous any more, can you tell me what happen?” She texted to
the stranger after swallowing her own fear, and a minute later she got a picture
message; when she pressed the picture, she saw a familiar scene─ it is the
agriculture showroom! Emily just visited there in the morning!
Not knowing what is the stranger meant, Emily decided to go to the agriculture
showroom first and hoped to find any clue.
When Emily reached at the showroom, she found it also empty with no
astonishment. Upon she rubbing her finger over the wall and flicking on a light, a
click the door slammed shut, and the door moved a fraction of an inch when she
yanked on it.
“I am stranded.” This is the first thought hit to her mind. With the light turned on,
she wasn’t that scared and turned around from the closed door, and then she froze.
Inside the showroom put an Egyptian mummy coffin.
“Why is the coffin here? I am sure it was in the Egyptian culture showroom this
morning! ” Emily screamed in horror. Her heart was pounding so loudly that she was
sure the whole of museum could hear it, if there still anyone in the museum.
“Good job! Sweetie, please open the coffin now.” The following text message
showed a horrible suggest. It really terrified Emily.
“What? No! That action is illegal!” Emily said, folded her arms across her chest,
and refused to follow the terrible instruction.
“Open the coffin.” The stranger seemed at the edge of his patience. Emily was
fought back by a surge of fear and turned to measure the coffin.
She started off at a slow walk toward the coffin. It is covered with the dust, how
strange! When she approached it, she saw dust swirling in the afternoon sunlight
slating down from the broad windows.
Taking a big gulp of air, Emily rolled her sleeve up to her shoulder and flexed
her fingers a few time, and then she dropped her knees and pried the coffin open.
There should be a mummy inside the coffin, but now the coffin was empty. The
mummy is gone.
What she saw was so unexpected that she couldn’t take it all in at once.
“Hey! It is empty. There isn’t any mummy. Are you kidding me?” Emily blurted
out and shook her head in bewilderment. Her voice was hoarse with incredibility.
“Of course it is empty.” The following text said, “How interesting, you did see
the mummy you consider is gone this morning.” The tone of voice dripped with
sarcasm.
Emily raised questioning eyes to the coffin and said, “What? You mean the
mummy is still in the Egyptian culture showroom, but…” Her voice trailed off as she
turned her attention to her cellphone that was ringing in a soft double trill. She got a
video message, which was sent with the following sentences.
“The coffin you saw in the Egyptian culture showroom is a fake one, I believe
you can distinguish it now. To everyone who had seen this, nobody can be fooled into
thinking it is the real.”
“It had been changed silently during the staff carried it.”
“The real one…”
The text said triumphantly, but her face fell as she thought of something.
“Excuse me for interrupt you, but can I refuse to watch the video? I am scared of
thriller.” Emily said carefully and patiently. Actually she wasn’t in the mood.
“Sure,” the text said, “I just worry about the little snippets you knew would
tantalize more.”
It was Emily’s turn to be at the edge of his patience. She didn’t want to know the
details about the mummy coffin any more (well, may be a little). The most important
thing to her was reaching the stranger’s request, finding her lost families and going
back home right away.
“The final thing you have to do is,” the text went on; pretty soon she quit
grumbling. “Carry the fake coffin here, and exchange by the real one.”
On hearing the final request, Emily groaned, screwed up her face and wrinkled
her nose. “Carry a coffin? Only me?” she thought to herself.
With her long hung over her face, Emily found her expression on her face would
be hard to read, so she smacked her lips and scrunched up her face again, and then she
opened her eyes and shrugged.
“Well, do you ask me to carry the big, weight coffin by myself? I can’t afford it.”
Emily said, seeing the colorful rug which covered the floor under the real coffin, took
a deep breath and tried to sound casual.
“You can, sweetie, please try tour best. I don’t want to lay in the ugly fake
mummy case any more.” The text said, sound like to beg.
“Oh, sweetie, just as I think,” Emily answered, her tone matching his, “Or do
you prefer to my calling you Mr. Mummy?” She broke into a wide grin.
“Stop making fun of me! Carry my coffin as soon as you can!”
“I can’t. I am not kidding.” She said sincerely.
The defeated tone of her voice made his heart sink. “No, sweetie, I don’t want to
stay in the fake coffin forever.” The text begged.
“Well, if you truly want to leave there, I can give you a hand.” She said with a
chuckle.
“Serious? What would you do?” The text said. Emily’s words made his withered
heart stand still.
Emily gave her cellphone a huge jack-o’-lantern smile and her dimples appeared,
whether Mr. Mummy could see or not.
“Relieve me, and I will ask my family members to help me carry the real coffin,
or I can ask the guide for a favor.” She answered.
“I prefer to your families’ coming and carrying my coffin.”
“Okay, I will find them as soon as possible, so please relieve me.”
“But, can I believe in you? If you tell a lie to me, my perfect coffin will appear in
the central of the showroom in a few minutes, and everyone in the museum could
touch it, maybe they will destroy it!”
“Calm down please, Mr. Mummy, you can believe in me. I am an exotic culture
lover. By the way, once I set my mind to something, I won’t quit.” She promised.
“Okay, I will give you ten minutes to find your families. It is my limit.” The text
compromised with her. Though he didn’t totally trust Emily, his heart still began to
thump in anticipation.
When Emily backed to herself again, she found she was in the jam-packed
agriculture showroom. It seemed that nobody except her could see the real coffin.
She walked down the corridor and was in the museum hallway pedestrian
crossing. “Mr. Mummy is trusty.” She scrutinized the people and thought.
“I have only ten minutes to find Mom, Dad, Nick and Emma.” She thought.
Emily broke into a jog.