Pounding.
Pounding as blood courses through my brain.
Pounding as my feet kick up dirt from the well worn trail.
Pounding of the vibrations shaking the earth, that betray the fact I am being chased.
The Temple of Anubis is open and wide but I must run through the back trails to avoid giving them an open shot.
At last I get to the fabled statue. Anubis, in all her glory stands tall, as sunlight streams through a crack in the roof of the cavern. Desperately, I search for the hidden lever I was informed of, hoping to avoid getting caught by the deformed shadows loping towards me. Finally, with a flick of a switch, the scene changes.
Cracked, stained glass windows cast flickering shadows over the dusty furniture around me.
“Where is it,” I ask the boy, whom’s name I had long ago forgotten.
“There, in the floor,” he whispers as he collapses to the ground. Slowly, the memory dissolves into dust, similar that to the dust coating the area around me, with only a black, dusty handprint betraying the fact that the boy had been there not seconds before.
Calmly, not allowing the sad face of the boy to intrude on my thoughts, I open the latch.
I am in a church now, in the early 1900’s. The layout of the old building comes back to me, even after years of my absence. An old, wooden door blocks the way I had come. I turn around, and there are two boys bickering over a toy.
“Are they here?” I croak, realizing I had not spoken for a long, long time.
They both turn to look at me, sadness on their faces and longing in their eyes. Without speaking, they both nod.
I nod many times in return to show my understanding and look towards the door, dreading the thought of whatever is behind it. Without warning, I start moving. I look down at my feet and see them pumping, pounding, as they pick up speed. A faint memory returns to me of a pounding, and hot desert air. My feet, barely touching the ground, burst through a passage that somehow I knew was there. Desperately, I run farther and faster from the door, looming menacingly behind me. I come out into a hallway, vacant of any passerby, but I don’t stop. My strides lengthen and I fly down the hallway at such speed I do not know possible. The pounding continues, yet still I run. Faster, up the stairs, on the balcony overlooking the pews and still I fly. Faster I sprint, faster, faster–
A man steps out of a shadow, grabs my neck and hurls me against the wall. Stunned, I try to regain my balance but he’s on me again, he grasps my neck with gigantic scarred hands and leans over me. I see the perspiration beading on his forehead, his wild eyes, bulging in his skull.
He leans closer, “Where is he, where is Sean?”, he growls.
I look down, not answering.
“Answer me!”, he screams, tightening his grip, threatening to rip my head off my body.
I slowly peer up to meet his sightless bloodlust, his mouth foaming with froth.
I peer up, look him in the eyes,
and smile.