ALEX'S BAD DREAMS
Disclaimer: The Mummy, and TMR Belong to Stephen Sommers, and Universal Studios, and as such don't belong to me.
Chapter 4: The Journey Begins
It wasn't hard to get a bus to take them to the port, and now Alex and Megan waited for the ship, bound for Egypt to arrive. It wasn't to arrive till morning, so they decided to sleep in shifts, behind some cargo containers. Alex took the first watch, glad she had packed blankets for them to use. He pretended like he was on watch for Captain Hook, protecting Tiger Lillie, though he would
never tell Megan that. If he did, she would likely add to his already bruised face. He found a small board, and pretended it was a sword, doing battle with invisible foes. Little did he know that Megan had woken up and was watching him.
"What are you doing?" She asked, giggling. He spun around startled, then he blushed.
"Well, I was pretending to fight off the enemy, who in this case would be Captain Hook." She giggled again.
"You and Peter Pan." He sat next to her.
"I like Peter Pan. He never had to grow up, and lived in a place where the younger people ruled. That made her wish there was such a place, and she said as much.
"Alex, are you sure we should be doing this?"
"Well, you can go home if you want, but I'm not, not until I'm sure everything is the way it should be. Do you know how to play Poker?" She shook her head, and he got out his deck of cards that Uncle John had given him and dealt out two hands, then explained the rules of the game. He basically played against him self, until she got the idea, then they played that for quite sometime. She let him get some sleep, though it wasn't long before one of his dreams came, and he
woke back up. Finally morning came, and their ship arrived. It was a steam ship, passenger, and from past experience, Alex knew there were large cargo bays below. They waited until the found a large group of tourists boarding, and then it was quite easy to blend in. Once they were on board ,they ran up to top deck and watched as the ship left the port. Both of them shared a momentary feeling of fear, but then the adventure was on, and that fear was forgotten.
Back at his home, Alex had done a very old trick of the trade, and left two pillows under his covers. He had hoped no one would come to take a close look, and no one did. Both mum, and dad had peeped in fooled by the pillows, and it was not until that morning, when Rick went in to wake his son for school, that he found out the truth. Alex was gone. He ran downstairs skipping the last four steps, and went into the kitchen where Evelyn was making breakfast, and bag
lunch for her son. "Evy, has Alex been down this morning?" he asked praying that she would say yes, and knowing the answer would be no.
"No, why?" A look of panic crossed her face. "He's not in his bed is he?" Rick shook his head and Evelyn closed her eyes.
"What are we doing wrong, that he won't talk to us?" She felt helpless, angry, and sad at the time. Rick tried to hug her but she pulled away.
"I can't do this, he knows we love him, and he won't let us help him." He pulled her into his arms, and she did cry. It was then, that Jonathan came in, and Rick shook his head, and Jonathan left again. After a few moments Evelyn lifted her head from his chest.
"We should start looking for him. Maybe he went back to the park, to find those boys." Rick had not thought of that, and yelled for Jonathan, who came in a little annoyed.
"First you want me to go then..."
"Jonathan now is not the time. Alex was not in his bed when I went in this morning, and we need to go find him. I'm going to the park, you go to the Museum, and the school and see if he's there." Rick turned back to his wife, pulling her into his arms
"Stay here in case he shows up," he said gently. She agreed, and after a kiss, Rick left as did Jonathan to search for Alex.
It wasn't all that much later, that Mr. Richardson, Megan's father, came over. It was a frantic knocking at their door sending Evelyn running. When she opened it, she was surprised to find him here for a visit. It did not occur to her why he might be here
"Have you seen Megan today?" He asked worried.
"No."
"She was not in her bed this morning, and a found some of my money missing. Is Alex here, maybe he has seen her." What he said made things click, and she invited him in.
Now, in the parlor, Evelyn told him that Alex had also not been in his bed this morning. The older man put his hands on his face.
"I should have known she was mad at me." He looked up.
"I'm sorry Evelyn, I should go see if I can find her."
"You don't think they would be together?" She asked. As close as their two children were, it was a high possibility.
"Why don't you stay here until my husband, and brother return. They've gone to the school, and a few other places to find Alex, and if he's not found, I think maybe they might be together. Mr. Richardson, Daniel, agreed to stay, and Evelyn fixed him some coffee. About an hour later, both Jonathan and Rick returned without finding any trace of Alex. Evelyn greeted them at the door, and told them that Megan was also missing.
"We should look in their rooms for any sort of clue," Rick said to everyone involved. Daniel left to do that, and the rest of them went up to Alex's room. The first thing they noticed was that his Piggy Bank was not on his bookshelf. After a few minutes of searching, Jonathan found a blanket in his dirty cloths basket, and when he took it out pieces of the bank fell to the floor.
"So where ever they have gone, they have about 500 dollars between them," Evelyn said. They kept looking, and Evelyn found that two of his good Uniforms were gone, and his hairbrush, and other things he would need to take a trip, the only problem now was to figure out just where they had gone.
By the end of the day, Rick, and Daniel had called various places of
transportation, asking if two children had been seen, and so far, only the Double Decker Bus company, and the taxi company hadn't returned their calls. The next two days they tore their houses apart trying to find anything else that would lead them in the direction of where the children had gone. It was on the morning of the third day that the Double Decker Bus company called with the news they needed. It was Jonathan who answered the phone
"You don't say, that's just what we needed to hear, thank you." He hung up, and yelled that he had a big clue, and Rick and Evelyn came down from upstairs
"The bus company says two children matching their description took a bus the night before we found them gone, to the Port. Evelyns face drained of all color, and Rick caught her before she fell. She hadn't passed out but the shock of where Alex was heading made everything in her momentarily shut down.
"Evy?" Rick lifted her into his arms and carried her to the couch.
"They went to Egypt," she said in a shaky voice.
"No, after all the dreams he's had, he would never go back. He won't even go the museum anymore," Rick said not wanting to believe, that what she was saying was true.
"When I talked to him, that night, he told me he wanted to take care of things on his own. By going back he's facing his fears," She said. Rick sat down hard. It was one thing when he was kidnapped and those people needed him alive, now his little boy, and an innocent girl were going on a journey that could likely kill them.
"Jonathan call the airstrip and see if there are any flights out today." He kissed Evelyn. "Our best chance is to fly there, and try to get there before they do." That got her motivated and she went back upstairs to start packing.
On the ship, Alex and Megan blended in with the other children, playing games on the top deck, and only god knew why, but they managed to make it to Egypt in one piece. It was midday when they arrived, and Alex spoke the little Egyptian he knew, and told the Cab driver to take them to the train station in Cairo. He had spent most of his time on the train ride looking out the Window, and figured if
they stayed close to the track, he could get them to Karnac. Now they were at a near by market, and Alex bought them food, l ike apples, cheese, dried beef, and lots of water. He also got them a bigger bags, two of them, and some tents. It was not uncommon here for the children to help out with getting supplies, and Alex was not out of place. He knew exactly what he was doing, having watched his
mother and his father deal with these people. The last stop was getting Camels. That two was easy, and Alex found they only had enough Money to get one. Once he had gotten it, He and Megan had to find a place to hide out until the sunset, and at the train station, they found more cargo boxes.
"Alex, people will see the Camel, " she said.
"Now they won't." Alex gave a command and the Camel laid down. While they waited, they ate a small snack, making sure to ration what they ate, to have enough for the journey there, and the journey back. Alex coughed a little, and Megan looked at him.
"Are you all right?" he nodded. Truthfully he was terrified, and since yesterday, his throat had really been sore. He was just glad that in a few days this would all be over, and then he could stop being afraid of things.
When the O'Connells got to Egypt, it had been two days since Alex and Megan had left. Megan's father had to stay behind because of work, and Rick bit his tongue about that, but everyone had their priorities, he guessed. After getting their bags, they got a cab to take them to the Magic Carpet, only to find that it was
abandoned. That put a minor dent in plans.
"We could go to the Museum, the Med-Jai usually have a contact there," Evelyn said. So they returned in to the main hub of Cairo, and when they got the museum, they found one of the warriors, though he was dressed to look like a regular person. Rick approached him, and introduced himself, and there was recognition in the younger mans eyes.
"My son, and his friend we think, are heading to where Ahm-Shere used to be. We need a guide to take us by land, the way they would go." Rick told the man. "Stay here, at the resort, I will go find our leader for you." Rick thanked him, and went back to Evelyn and Jonathan.
"One of us needs to stay at the hotel, in case they get back. Jonathan you wait there, and Evy and I will go get what we will need. That suited Jonathan just fine, and after wishing them luck he went down the way to a hotel very familiar to him. It was tempting to get a drink, but considering why they were there now was not the time to get drunk.
It had been a long two days in the hot desert, and though Alex had not gotten much sleep on their journey, he was glad that in a few days he would be where he needed to go. Megan liked riding on a Camel, and Alex even let her take the lead.
"So what do we do if we get to this place and find it?" Alex hadn't thought about that.
"We won't find it," he said defensively. Megan let it go at that. When the sun started to go down they went off the path of the tracks and over few small dunes, finding a good place to make a camp site. Alex told the camel to lay down, and when it did, they got off, and got the things they needed, and set up a small camp. Once that was accomplished, and the fire was going, they got out some cheese, and a part of an apple and dried meet. They were alternating meals between that and rice.
"What makes you so afraid of this place?" He was silent for a moment.
"Because, my mum died there," was all he would say. Megan was a bit confused, and when he looked up and saw that, he sighed and told her how that happened.
"So this book brought her back to life?" Alex nodded.
"Could it bring my mum to life?"
"If we could find it, but since the Oasis sunk deep into the sand, its likely never going to be found, not unless your willing to make a deal with Anubis like the Scorpion King did," Alex explained. From what Alex had told her, making a deal with that god was a very bad idea.
"You do realize that if we make it back, unharmed. that your parents, and my dad will likely kill us," she pointed out.
"So we don't tell them we came here. We didn't leave any clues, so we could tell them we went to see Paris." Alex was trying to make her feel better she knew, but she was worried non the less.
By traveling all night and all day, the Mad-jai, and Rick's group were now a day behind the children. Now he and Evelyn were talking about Alex as they set up
camp.
"Do you think they will stay at Karnac?" He asked her.
"It's a good place to rest, and has a fresh source of water, " she said hopeful.
They finished setting up their tent and then sat around the fire with Ardeth Bay, and with Jonathan.
"Is there anyway to bring back the Oasis," Jonathan asked after a long silence. He had guessed that was at least one of his nephew's fears.
"Not that we know of. " Now the wise leader spoke to Rick. " You said that you sent him to the under world, and that is what caused the break down of the Oasis?" Rick nodded taking a sip of water.
"After we climbed out of the pit, really before, the whole place was getting sucked down some sort of whirlpool, and when we were safe in the ship, and saw you, it was no more.
"Then there is no way it will ever return. The curse was broken when you killed the Scorpion King.." After a bit to eat, they all went to their tents. In theirs Evelyn came over to their mat and Rick gently pulled her down into his arms.
"You've been quite this trip, " he said gently holding her to him. She rested her head on his chest.
"I'm trying to figure out how we should handle things, when we find our son," she replied, quietly.
"I know. I'm not sure whether to yell at him or hug him, or do both," Rick admitted. She lifted her head to look at him.
"You've never yelled at him." He knew that well.
"No, and until now, I've never been as angry at him, as I am at this moment. I know yelling at him won't do anything to help matters, but his punishment won't be anything he will forget in the near future." He smiled at her.
"What kind of punishment?"
"He's going to be grounded for at least a month, no privileges of any sort, and odd jobs around the house until he helps Megan pay back what she took from her father." Evelyn was in full agreement with her husbands punishment, and after a goodnights kiss they went to sleep.
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