The Cursed Pharaoh's Bride

Chapter V

Carolina 

I groan as I roll out of bed. Another night of little to no sleep. I let out a sigh as I crawl out of my room and slowly make my way into the kitchen to make my precious coffee.

“Another rough night?” Tori asks with a yawn. She’s already in the kitchen, playing with her bowl of cereal.

“Unfortunately,” I respond.

“Carol, are you sure you don’t want to go to a therapist or something?” She asks.

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” I protest, “We both agree that what I experienced was some heat driven hallucination. I can get over this.”

“Are you sure, girl?” She asks with a worried tone, “You came back from Egypt a week ago and you’re still having nightmares.”

“Recovery is always rough,” I mutter. I hear my roommate give me a frustrated sigh or more like grunt.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t take on that summer job you wanted,” she says as she brings her empty bowl into the sink, “You’d die from the sleep deprivation and extra stress.”

I let out a sigh. I hate it when Tori’s right but then again, she’s my best friend so it’s to be expected. Our friendship is kind of ironic since I consider Tori to be my sister and yet we look nothing alike. Tori is a hot, red head with brown eyes and a pale complexion. She’s really tall and thin, which contrasts my shorter and curvier physique. Not to mention I have curly, chocolate brown locks, caramel skin and bright green eyes. Despite our obvious differences in appearance, though, our personalities couldn’t be anymore similar.

“Do you know when Alexa is coming back?” I ask after I’ve managed to gulp down half my mug of coffee.

“We’re free of the annoying fake blonde for another week,” Tori says with the roll of her eyes.

I let out a laugh. “I know she’s your cousin and everything but why is she living with us again?” I ask.

“Ugh. My parents thought it was a good idea to shove her in our apartment because she just had to go the same school as us. I’m surprised she was even accepted into Hunter,” she rants, “At least her parents are helping her pay rent.”

“Otherwise, what? You would have kicked her out?” I joke.

“Oh, you know I would. I still could if that girl keep bringing her obnoxious friends and keeps staying up all night going clubbing instead of being a responsible student and adult,” she snaps.

“At least she’s graduating in two years,” I remind.

“If she’s lucky,” Tori grumbles.

I let out a frustrated sigh just thinking about Alexa. “I agree with you though,” I say, “That girl is so immature and not to mention annoyingly boy crazy. She’s even told me how her dream guy would be super rich. I think she believes she’ll find some rich guy she can marry so she can just become a trophy wife.”

“Yup, that girl is delusional,” she agrees, “But forget her. Seeing how it’s my day off, we should do a little back to school shopping.”

At first, I’m a little hesitant but, soon enough, I agree. If I want to feel better, I need to get my mind off of my stupid nightmares. Tori and I soon find ourselves walking through some stores around midtown of Manhattan. 

We walk in and out of art supply stores and book stores. The vintage, family owned shops are always some of our favorites. You can always find some of the cutest things that you might not find in a Staples or Barnes and Noble. 

“Is there anywhere else you want to check before we head further downtown?” Tori asks as we wait in the Starbucks we took refuge in for her ice coffee. 

“I’d like to scope out a new tablet for school,” I say, “I’ve been starting to favor taking notes on PDFs and stuff but my old tablet can’t really do that.” 

With that, we walk to a nearby electronics store once Tori got her drink. We both browse through merchandise when an employee approached us. 

“May I help you ladies?” He asks politely. 

“Yeah, we were just looking for tablets that would be good for a college student,” I say. 

He then takes us through the store’s collection of tablets and iPads. “One of the newest and trendiest devices is the new Seka Corp. eNote 3.0,” he suggests, “It’s extremely light, the software is very fast and secure, and it has great storage.”

“Thank you, we’ll let you know if we need anything else,” I say after looking at all the options. 

I found myself playing with the eNote. Seka Corp. wasn’t a big name brand when it came to electronics, at least not before. I’m surprised it’s found it’s way onto the shelf of a lesser known electronic store. 

“Seka Corp. has really started to rise in popularity, don’t you think?” Tori says. It’s like she was reading my mind. 

“Yeah. A few years back, nobody knew they existed,” I add, “But it seems like, within the past five years, they’ve become popular.”

“I think it’s because they’re doing more electronics for the average consumer,” Tori explains. She crosses her arms and knits her eyebrows as if she’s thinking hard about something. “Back then, I think they just did machinery for factory use.”

“Well, their tech seems really good. I get why more and more people are starting to like it,” I say. I happily buy the tablet before we leave and continue our shopping escapade. 

Next on our list is clothes, which we look for downtown, though I don’t know why. Most of the stores we look through are expensive. 

“Tori, don’t you think this area is a bit too expensive for the both of us?” I ask. 

“Not all the stores here are expensive. And besides, there’s a sale. That’s the only reason why I’d drag you here,” she defends. 

“Unless the sale is 100% off, I don’t know if I’ll buy anything,” I say as I put down a shirt that has a price tag of $95 sticking out. And that shirt was one of the cheeper articles of clothing I found. 

“Oh, don’t be dramatic,” Tori waves off. 

“I’m not-“ My sentence is cut off as I bump into something hard. I didn’t think I’d bump into something that I’d be sent stumbling back but it seems that’s the case. Before I can completely fall on my butt, two strong arms wrap around me and bring me back up. 

“My apologies,” a deep, British voice sends chills down my spine. I feel my face heat up as I adjust my glasses and look up at the person who has me caged in his grasp. 

I’m looking up at a tall man, who’s easily about a foot taller than me. He has a deliciously warm, light brown skin, temptingly full lips, high cheek bones, a chiseled jawline, a large aristocratic nose, and unnaturally icy blue eyes that were staring into my soul. My hands are resting on his strong, broad chest and are unconsciously griping onto his shirt. That action is the only thing keeping me from running my fingers through his short, dark locks, which are styled in an undercut. 

“O-oh, no, it’s my fault. I wasn’t looking,” I say quickly as I pull away. At first, I feel somewhat of a resistance as if he didn’t want to let go. But he then immediately retracted his arms from around my smaller form. 

As I take a step back, I notice he’s dressed up in a dark fitted Calvin Klein polo shirt with light dress pants and leather shoes. His clothes do little to hide his large and muscular physique. Despite his more formal wear, the stud earrings he wears give him a more rebellious look. I have to keep myself from drooling at the fine specimen that was standing in front of me. The best I can muster is biting my lip to keep myself from doing anything else. 

“I was the one who was in your way. You’re not hurt, are you?,” he says. His voice brings me back to reality and I realize I must have been staring. How creepy!!!

I open my mouth to respond but I’m cut off by the sound of my phone buzzing erratically. Ugh, Tori just had to text me now. It seems like she’s leaving the store. 

“It’s ok. I’m fine,” I quickly reassure him before walking past him. Our bodies barely brushed passed each other and I feel electricity as we make contact. I push that strange feeling aside and move towards the entrance where Tori is waiting for me. 

“Where did you go?” She asks. 

“Sorry, I bumped into someone. It was a small altercation,” I respond. 

“Was it by any chance with that sexy guy who’s staring at you right now?” She asks. I look over at where she’s talking about and notice the same man from before. 

“U-um, yes,” I stutter, “We should go.”

On our way back home to our apartment, Tori finally decides to bring him up again. “Someone has guys drooling over her,” she teases. 

“What do you mean?” I ask, playing stupid. 

“You know, the guy in the store, that cute kid from Columbia,” she says. 

“The guy in the store was some weird coincidence. I’m not going to see him again,” I say. For some reason, that thought made me upset. I mean, what girl doesn’t dream about a hot guy being all over her? “And I haven’t spoken to Jay that recently. We have separate lives so I doubt we’ll really ever come in contact again.”

“Both guys were still drooling over you,” she states matter of factly. “I worry about you, you know.”

“I know,” I sigh, “But I don’t have time for a relationship right now. School has to come first for me this year.”

She doesn’t bring the guys or my nonexistent love life up again, which makes me feel relieved. I don’t date much and whereas Tori has had much more relationships under her belt. So seeing me without a guy worries her, especially after my last rough breakup. But I always reassure her that I’m fine and a strong independent woman who may or may not feel lonely but would never admit it. 

We each waste no time crawling into bed as soon as we get home. For the first time in several nights, I’m able to slip straight into sleep because I’m so exhausted. 

The dream hits me almost immediately. It starts like the other ones do. I’m in what looks like the ancient and abandoned tomb we had explored in Egypt. I’m back in the room that we found that monster. 

I’m standing in the middle of the room and instead of being surrounded by the treasure, I’m surrounded by a swarm of beetles and scorpions. I try to move to get away but I find I’m glued in place. Then I hear heavy footsteps coming from behind me and deep muttering in a language I can’t understand. 

I bite my lip and I feel my body quiver in fear. A chill shoots down my spine when I feel a bony hand grip onto my shoulder tightly. My mouth opens as if a screamed but no sound comes out. The fact that I know I can’t call for help makes me even more terrified. 

Suddenly, bony arms wrap around me and drag me backwards. This is usually where the dream stops before I wake up but this night was different. As if a switch was flipped, I can suddenly feel my body again and I rip myself away from the monster. 

The second I turn around, I’m faced by the same decaying face I saw in the tomb as well as in the bar. I slowly take a step back, but I soon find I can’t go further when a wall suddenly appears behind me out of no where. 

The mummy slowly steps towards me and with every step he takes, he changes. His skin regenerates and the paleness fades away. His figure and face start to fill up with meat. He’s nearly a step away from me when I start to notice a certain familiar chiseled jawline, familiar deliciously full lips, and familiar aristocratic nose. His devilish red eyes change into an icy blue that are piercing my soul. 

I’m left breathless when I take in the man that was standing in front of me. The same man from the store is towering over me. He looks down at me and gives me a mischievous smirk. He gently wraps his bandaged covered form around me and pulls me into his strong chest, which the bandages are slightly exposing. 

A shiver runs down my spine when I feel his lips brush against my ear. “My queen,” his baritone voice whispers.