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“I don’t want to enter, can you just stop talking about it” Ted Spankoffski says with a nearly argumentative tone. He was of taller stature with a mustache that looked as if it was glued and eyes that looked as if it had no life behind. The rest of his outfit was bland, almost fitting to the rest of the even blander office breakroom. “All I’m saying is that it could be fun and,” Bill, his co-worker, who actually looks like he has a life, stretches out his coffee holding hand: nearly dropping the coffee.”Maybe you could bond with your brother, if a had a possibility to do something similar, let's say with Alice, I would take the offer.”He walks over to Ted and puts a hand on his shoulder; trying to be friendly but coming off as almost degrading,” And at that most people will never have the chance to go to Egypt and I know Pete likes History so he might enjoy it.” Ted rising up from his position of nearly lying vertically on the counter.” I have a functional relationship with my brother unlike your broken and terrible relationship with your daughter.” He stands up and heads to leave.”I don’t need to go to a completely different country to get him to talk to me.” He walks out and forgets the coffee he made moments before. Ted steps into the small, 2 bedroom apartment that he and Pete, his brother share. He places the empty and frankly unless briefcase that he uses to seem more important then he is, down next to the door. Then takes off his shoes and places them aside the briefcase. He walks to his room not checking if anyone is in the apartment. He takes a nap; as there’s nothing better to do. He wakes up as a knock pounds on the bedroom door, or at least sounds as if the person is trying to pound, as they are doing a bad job at it.”Ted I’m going to Steph’s house and there’s probably leftovers or something in the fridge,” a small pause,”I’m probably going to their house for the weekend as well.” The steps slowly move away from the door, ever since Pete met Stephanie or Steph, he has spent nearly every night and weekend at their house. It was clearly hindering his and Petes relationship though it had never been good. A few minutes later or hours he finally gets up and slowly walks out and to the fridge. Ignoring the food and every other possible choice; he chooses the alcohol. It's not that he started drinking when his parents died and he, the task of taking care of his brother, it's just that it got worse.He never loved his parents, they were his parents nothing more, he avoided going to their house saying ‘Work has just been a lot’ or ‘I’m helping my girlfriend with something.’ Though he regularly missed work or came late and he hasn’t had a girlfriend in a decade; just one night stands. He had a similar relationship with his brother, he never really saw his brother only through christmas cards and trips to his parents house. They’re 17 year age gap did not help their crumbling relationship nor did it encourage Ted to ever see him. He didn’t need a trip to Egypt with an archaeological dig to try to be brotherly for once. He could be brotherly if he wanted; but he doesn't. He walks to the old and dusty couch and plops down to drink. Ted drinks for an hour or so, then he watches trash tv. Eventually, he decides to look at the email for the lottery; to laugh at the stupidity of it. Who would want to go to an old country and look at history, it would be like school and nobody likes school. Well except for Pete, he tried and it was kinda admirable. Pete would probably like it. He would love it. But if he went, Ted would have to as well. Though he didn’t really like his brother, maybe Ted could just find some bars and drink. Even if he did sign up there wouldn’t be a chance he would win. But it wouldn’t hurt to at least sign up. Ted, definitely because of his drunken state, re spawned to the email. There would probably be a ton of other people wanting to go. There would be other nerds; like his brother, wanting to go. Though CCRP (the company he works at) had a lot of other people who got drunk on Tuesday nights, with no desire to go to a far off country. By the time he signed up for the lottery he was too tired to do much else. So he, after another nap only a few hours earlier, went to sleep. He woke up to a sound of his phone buzzing; probably just a message from some dating site or something equally useless. In his tired, hungover state he picked up his phone to find an email. It said ‘To Ted Spankoffski you are the lucky winner of the all expensive paid trip to Egypt. With the trip includes, an archaeological dig with Becky Barnes, a hotel suite and free food and drinks.’ In small text underneath’ EEAI and CCRP are not respawnable for any deaths or injuries caused because of the “Egypt summer trip package”. Ted was equally dreadful, excited and confused as cause of the email. The idea of going to Egypt was a drunken idea, these types of ideas made him want to stop drinking though his parents deaths stopped that from ever happening. Though he was excited to go; at least a bit, maybe so he could spend time with his brother, no it couldn’t be that. But the confusion was that the lottery was supposed to end in 2 days. He wasn’t supposed to get the email now, but getting something earlier couldn’t hurt. Stretching as he was getting up, he noticed a figure in the kitchen; it was his brother. The best way to describe Pete was that he looked as if he came out of a 2000s highschool movie; as a nerd. He wore green suspenders, a green tie and a white button up shirt perfectly ironed with brown pants and thick rimmed black glasses. “I guess you didn’t stay at their house,” Ted grumbled, maybe because he was tired or, maybe he was jealous of Steph. “No, their dad came home so I had to go,” Pete walked over to the fridge and grabbed an energy drink.” I might go tomorrow, we have to work on a history essay.” “I got this email for a trip sponsored by CCRP, it's to Egypt and it includes a dig or something,” he crossed the room over to the kitchen.”Maybe you would like to come?” Ted cringed as he said the last sentence; he didn’t want to come off as wanting his brother to come. But he didn’t know how else to bring up the trip. “Sure, I guess but when is it? I don’t want to miss school,” Pete shrugged, he didn’t know what Ted was doing. Ted would have never invited him to a trip; willingly of course. Their parents tried to make them do stuff, but it never worked out. “It's this weekend, you’ll be back in time for school.” They’re trip to the airport went surprisingly well; ignoring the arguing over the music and the fact that Ted never drove more than 20 miles above the limit. Then the actual flight went decently, they got business class and food paid for by CCRP. They didn’t fight much since they were both asleep. They arrive at the hotel a quarter past 8, in the northernmost region of Giza. “Ted” no response,”Ted” again no response. Pete elbows him a few times to get him to wake up; as he took a nap the entire 3 hour drive. Ted finally wakes up.”What, I was trying to take a nap and you rudely interrupted me.” He looks out the window and realizes that they’re at the hotel. “We’re at the hotel. Can you check when the dig is for tomorrow?” Pete opens his door and walks around the back to get the suitcases. Ted follows suit. “It's 9am to 8pm then there's a 1 hour break at 1pm. Then after that a dinner at the hotel.” Ted picks up his backpack; he didn’t bring a suitcase because ‘suitcases aren’t for men’ and then he and Pete had an argument about gendering random items in which Ted, of course, lost. They get their stuff and walk up to the hotel. The hotel looks as if it came out of an old 40s noir, the 5 story building had yellow paint and blue pillars; all expensively and elaborately detailed. A few palm trees were scattered around, the neon lights contrasting the nature around the building. As they walked in they took in the glamor. The interior was no less decorated than the outside. Expensive furnishings underneath the illuminating chandeliers. The people as well looked as if they were decorations, their clothes matched perfectly to the interior. They look around the room to find a secretary, eventually they find one among the many people. At the far end of the room, lays a desk and a woman with long black hair, big earrings and cat-like eyes staring down at a paper. “You must be the Spankoffskis?” She says unlooking at the people in front. “Yes, we are,” Ted said, still looking; taking in the scenery. He felt weird, something was off but he couldn’t place his finger on it or like Pete would say lypophrenia. He said he was feeling like this to Pete once and Pete said ‘Then you’re feeling lypophrenia, it's sad that it's rarely used’ , Pete always used bigger words, bigger things. Pete had dreams, goals but they weren’t childlike goals they were feasible. The woman started to talk again, breaking Ted out of his day dreaming.”Here’s 2 keys and your room number is 134, ask the bellman to show you how to get there,”She handed him the keys and a paper that said 134 in nearly griffonage writing. They walked over to the elevators, where the bellman was standing. Ted showed him the small pearly color paper, the bellman took less than a second and started to blast off instructions. “Take the elevator, go to the 2nd story, take a left at the painting of the apple, then it's the 2rd door on the left. Shall I bring your bags?” His voice was clearly from another place, maybe Britain or France; somewhere in Europe. “No, I think we understand. Right Pete?” Ted looked up to look Pete in the eyes, though Pete was 17 years younger, he was somehow taller than the 6 '1 Ted. “We understand,” the brothers walk over to the elevators, it takes a few seconds for the elevator to arrive. The elevator had wall length mirrors on all sides, a small chandelier hanging with white leather seats. The elevator doors close. The elevator slowly starts moving, Ted looks over to Pete; he looks lost in thought staring into the mirror. “The secretary seemed weird right?” Pete turned fast, with a puzzled look. Ted couldn’t have been the only one to have thought the secretary weird? He didn’t look of himself as paranoid, he could be. She was weird, and Pete thought so too. “No, she seemed normal. Her handwriting is weird, even your handwriting is better.” Pete laughed a bit on the end. It just made Ted feel worse, he was normal, not paranoid, the woman was weird. “Maybe it's just jet lag setting in.” Ted turned to face the elevator doors opening, to a long and narrow hallway. Yellowish wallpaper with dark brown floorboards. They followed the institutions from the bellman,’ take a left at the painting of the apple, then it's the 2rd door on the left.’ Their room was better than any motel or hotel room they’ve been in before. Red carpet, more yellow wallpaper, chandeliers and a big window at the back. Though all of it was nice; it just seemed weird. It looked as a movie. Though Ted was weirded out by the room he was tired. Once they got their things in order they both went to sleep. After they woke up, ate the free breakfast the hotel was serving (it tasted like a 5 star restaurant), they got in a cab to go to the dig site. It took around 30 minutes, though they had to take a few backroads. The site didn’t look to be too far from the pyramids, while being out of the way enough to not be busy. There were a few people already there. But while they were taking in the view, a woman, around her 40s with red, long hair and a clipboard came up to them. “Ted and Pete Spankoffski from CCRP correct?” “Yes, are you-” Ted looks to Pete, trying to find her name in his face. He knew he read it somewhere, it was Emma? Linda? “Becky Barnes,” Pete butts in, turning to face her. She looks at her clipboard, possibly looking for something. Ted couldn’t really imagine anyone else from CCRP coming here. Everyone who worked there was similar, even he, who was included in that could see. Middle aged men, a few women, all looked as though they’re life was taken out of them. Though is the same for most office jobs. Ted didn’t even know what CCRP stood for. “I’ll be your boss for today, since the rest of the group is ready just follow me.” She was cheerful understandably so, since her job at least seemed fun. Or interesting at the least. They followed her for a few minutes through the yellow desert. It looked easy to get lost in, if there was mist or fog stopping you from looking far. They stopped at the edge of a pyramid, a tall pyramid though Ted didn’t know the name of it. They saw 4 people, one with short brown hair, bigger than average eyes; almost fish eyes if to be insulting. Another person talking to the brown haired one, Ted couldn't make out their features because they were turned away, though they had brown hair in a ponytail. The third had brown hair with curls pulled back with a pink headband and a similar outfit to the others. The outfit the group was wearing consisted of jeans, jackets of various shades of beige and mostly free of wear, white tee-shirts and light brown hats. The hats were almost in a style of the indiana jones hats. She points at the brown hair woman .“This is Emma Perkins, She is the science manager.” Then she points at the brown haired man.” Paul Matthews, he is the photographer.” Then she points at the curled brown hair women” Charlotte, she is the secondary director.” “Nice to meet you.” Pete says looking at no one in particular, almost like going through the motions of meeting someone. A few nice to meet you too are thrown out from the others. Except from Ted, he didn’t greetings to really be necessary “Should we get going; we have a whole pyramid to explore and only 10 hours.” Again Emma says cheerfully. It's not that Ted is a pessimist, it's just that she seems too nice, too cheerful. Like putting on an act; it just doesn’t seem genuine. A few nods from everybody signaling a yes. They walk down a path to the entrance of the pyramid and show their ids. The pyramid itself looks like how you would expect a pyramid. Triangular, yellow bricks, kinda falling apart; nothing too special. Well it's kinda special since it's a pyramid and there’s only a few of them. They pass through a very out of place metal gate and walk through. The interior contains more of the yellowish bricks. It's dark except for Erica? Wait no Emma holding up a flashlight. It smells old like an attic in your grandparents house. The floor is sand, though it's clean, it doesn’t have trash or really any evidence of at least modern humans being here. They all walk forward a few steps, then Becky turns around.” What is interesting about this pyramid in particular is that we don’t know who’s buried here or who built it. And it is the least explored pyramid in all of Giza. Though it is one of the biggest and through new technology it shows that it has at least 8 tombs.” A few ‘wow that’s so cool’ and other excited remarks.” But today we are exploring the western part, which only has 1 tomb, though the same technology shows that the tomb is huge.” She turns around and they start walking again. Throughout the walk she keeps on turning around to share facts or other related information about the pyramid every minute or so, though the walk was about only 5 minutes. They suddenly come to a stop in front of a small hole.” Through this hole and into the passage we will get to the never undercovered tomb.” Then Emma couches down and starts to crawl through the passage, the others follow suit. The passage is only 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide, though the floor is changed from sand to the small material on the walls. There are a few paintings on the walls of people farming or doing other everyday activities, or at least what were everyday activities back then. The passage was only about 2 people long, so they were quickly behind it. Ted’s knee pops after getting up, though he was only 44 he felt like he was in his 70s. His years of drinking and eating fast food every day were catching up to him. They stepped out to the room, the room was expansive, paintings surrounding them on the short and encasing walls. The room was probably 7 ft high since Ted couldn’t even stand on his toes without hitting the ceiling. In the middle of the room layed a sarcophagus, 3ft high 7ft long painted to look like someone; probably the person in the sarcophagus. Scattered around the room were various expensive items, furniture, gold, jewelry, all probably more than 1,000 years old. There were a few seconds, or minutes of them just standing around;taking in the scenery. Emma stepped forward,”This is a huge achievement for the archaeology community, this is one of the best persevered nay the best persevered tomb in a pyramid.” One of the archaeologists, Charlotte, comes forward.” Shouldn’t we seal this off since it’s a fully preserved tomb?” “We only have to seal it off after we leave, we can explore in the meantime. But remember,” she points at the Spankoffski brothers.” We have to be careful because if you break anything we can be sued.” She walks to her backpack to get something. The freedom was overwhelming even if it was just the freedom to look around a room. Paul started taking photos of the items and the paintings. Emma and Charlotte started to explore the room as well. Ted immediately went to the sarcophagus in the middle, he grazed around the lid. He could probably open it, yes the slight and the smell would be terrible but it’ll be cool to see a 1,000 year old body. She said they could explore, so what was stopping him from lifting the lid. Pete came out beside him, probably thinking the same thing.”You’ll get a curse, you know.” Ted said looking over, it was a joke, curses weren’t real, they’re just made for hollywood. “You would be included in the curse as well. Maybe it’ll be punishment for the times you forgot to pick me up from school,” Pete was smiling, at least a bit. It had been a while since Pete had smiled; your parents dying and having to live with your brother who is 17 years older isn’t the funnest thing. He was (technically) smiling at Ted. “Well it's not my fault you didn’t want to get your driver's license.” Ted knew it was a dumb idea, they'd probably get kicked out. But again she said they could explore, they’d probably have told them already to not open it. But they haven’t. Ted started to lift off the lid; it was heavy considering it was a huge piece of stone. It felt sharp against his hand, digging into it, it slowly started to lift. He felt Pete’s hesitation almost as if it was reflecting from him. He bought the lid high enough to pear in, an almost human shape painted like a human. He wanted to open it to see the human inside, it would look rotted, terrible, he would regret it, he would be traumatized by it. But it was almost like a sensation; overpowering him, he needed to open it. Somehow, considering the weight he moved one hand off the lid and moved down to the shape. He picked off the end and lifted, he saw another more human and smaller shape. He lifted higher and light came into it. It did not look old, or rotted, or even dead. This could have been a walking, breathing human and no one could have objected. Also Ted, with his only knowledge of Egypt being from ‘The Mummy’, knew that mummies had to be wrapped in cloth. But it wasn't, it was just a human laying down, it looked alive. “That looks alive.” Pete looked at Ted there was fear in his eyes, confused almost. Ted turned his head to look him directly in the eyes. In the corner of his eye he saw something move up. He could sense eyes at the back of his head, staring through him.