Menace At The Museum

‘I told you going to the museum would be more fun than going to the movies. Let’s first go to the artifacts section after this!’, Siri jumped as she finished reading the bio of all the paintings in the museum.

‘Do we really have to do this?’, Jack asked grumpily as he opened his fifth bag of Cheetos for the day and glared at the paintings. ‘Oh, oh, look at that painting’, Noah laughed and pointed, ‘The one that has frozen statues and dying people.’

Siri gasped audibly. ‘How can you laugh about that? It’s about the plague of Arcelia.’

‘What’s that?’, Jack asked, munching.

‘It was a deadly plague that hit the beautiful, prosperous kingdom of Arcelia. It made the people perish to death with black throats’, she replied, ‘Legends say only the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess survived.’

‘Why, were they VIP?’

‘No. They rose back from their ashes…they were part-phoenix’, she said sinisterly.

Jack and Noah suddenly began to chuckle at the comment as they dropped chips on their sweatshirts. A security officer approached them, clearly disturbed by the commotion they were causing, ‘No food allowed, boys. No loud laughing either’, he said, eyeing the duo. ‘Come on, Jack, Noah, let’s go’, Siri said as she grabbed their arms and hurried them out of the room.

‘Even I want to be part-phoenix’, Jack said, still amused by the joke. Siri ignored them and walked up to a dimly lit room. It was dusty and humid. Cobwebs encompassed all over the grey walls. The tiles were broken and it felt eerie. Jack and Noah followed her, creeped out too. Suddenly, they heard a creak.

‘It’s probably a chip I stepped on’, Noah said laughing it off, when Jack interrupted him. ‘Step aside, Noah’, he said quietly, as he crouched below. ‘Do you guys see it?’

‘No Jack, what’s wrong?’, Siri asked, genuinely concerned.

‘It looks like a trapdoor’, he said. Noah was prepared to laugh, but Jack looked serious.

Siri ducked as well, looking carefully. ‘I don’t know, nothing like that is mentioned in the museum brochure, but it might be one.’

Noah bent and tapped on it. A hollow echo reverberated in the room. Jack clenched his fist and pushed the door with all his might. A piece of tile slowly dangled and a golden door flew open before them.

‘Should we enter, or go back?’, Noah spoke, breaking the silence. ‘Isn’t it obvious, Noah, we can inform the museum authorities. They can dig in and find out what it leads to’, Siri said, her eyes wide open. Jack didn’t flinch a little. ‘Let’s get in and have a look, what’s the worst that can happen?’, he uttered casually.

Siri scowled at him in rage. ‘It probably leads to somewhere deep under. What if there is no oxygen supply? The soil could be too acidic or alkaline. We don’t know how to get back. Let’s be logical, Jack, it’s not going to lead you to some underworld city.’

‘Okay, fine! Let’s not step in, but can we just peek inside? That must be alright.’, Jack spoke in an attempt to convince her.

Siri coughed and nodded crossly. The three of them sneaked a quick look inside. It was dark. Abruptly, bright white light flashed into their eyes and the three of them rolled down the door. The darkness around them burst into flames and a huge wind carried the kids as they fell with a thud on green grass.

Suddenly, they were somewhere else.

‘Where are we, what happened?’, Noah yelled into the endless fields they were lying on. Green grass and hay seemed to stretch on till eternity and there were many old temples around. ‘Where is the trapdoor, where have we ended up?’, Siri asked back, her voice quivering. Jack dusted his hoodie and stood up. He was still shaken. He gazed around desperately, trying to spot help. ‘There might be people around here, come on let’s find help.’

‘You will find help!’, Siri shrieked at him, getting up suddenly. ‘Not us. You have landed us up here. You were the one feeling like Sherlock Holmes’, she screamed. Her voice rose with every word she spoke. ‘You were the one who was least interested in your safety, and OUR safety. Who knows where we are and how we’ll go back or what is happening or who can help us here, or, or…’

Tears began to flow down her cheeks.

Noah and Jack hugged her, in an attempt to pacify her. ‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have dragged you guys to the museum, we should have gone to the movies instead.’, she whispered to them.

Jack suddenly broke the hug. ‘Wait that temple looks familiar, doesn’t it?’, he said, pointing his finger around.

Noah and Siri looked where Jack was pointing. ‘So do these orchards. It feels like I’ve seen them through a window.’

Siri gasped. ‘I know where we are…’

Noah and Jack looked at her in scare.

‘This is Arcelia. All these buildings, the temples, the orchards, they are from the paintings depicting Plague of Arcelia.’, Siri uttered hopelessly.

As she said that, everything fit into place. The places that looked familiar, the misery in the air of Arcelia. Suddenly, the thoughts of the three was interrupted by a sharp whistle.

‘What are you kids doing here, I just shooed you out of the painting gallery!’, a grumpy voice spoke. They turned to find the same security officer they had met in the morning.

The officer’s eyes went up the ceiling. ‘Oh, you mischievous kids, you broke the tile in maid’s quarters! We were just about to repair that!’.

Jack, Siri and Noah looked about, when they realized they fell in the middle of a movie set placed in the museum.

The old officer uttered profanities and dragged them to the museum authorities. Let’s just say, a lot of trouble awaited the gang.