The Eyes Have It

Chapter 5: So This Is Love

Our night together was absolutely divine, we ended falling asleep on the roof with a blanket and Ahkmenrah's cape draped over us. As our last hour of the night approaches I feel him rocking me gently, calling my name in an attempt to wake me "Celeste"

"Hm?" I hum, still half asleep.

"I haven't got much time left, we should go inside" I'm not sure what he means but by the look of urgency in his eyes I sit up and pull him into a hug, he doesn't just have an urgent look, he also looks scared.

We both collect our clothes and get dressed, walking hand in hand off the roof and towards his exhibit "is everything okay Ahk?"

He smiles half heartedly "the magic of the tablet ends at sunrise" of course, how did I not figure that one out? Once we arrive at his tomb Ahkmenrah sits me down and explains the rules of the tablet to me, including the one about sunlight, which is the one that kills me the most, if we stayed together, then we could only have a night life, the rest would be me standing over a corpse.

"Ash?" I ask after he tells me what happens when one of them is exposed to sunlight outside of the museum walls.

"Yes, ash. I suppose there are worse ways to die" I kind of agree, from what I understand it would be a quick death, you probably wouldn't even know it was happening.

I laugh as I think back to yesterday "like being impaled you mean?"

When he realises that I'm referencing to what he told my parents yesterday, his cheeks flush red as he starts to laugh with me "I think your parents probably hated me after that"

Well yes but... "weeeeell..." he looks into my eyes and raises his eyebrows, tilting his head to one side "... maybe just a little... well, I mean, hate is a strong word" he laughs some more but then slowly goes silent, is he that worried that he made a bad first impression? "hey" I hold his hands and look into his eyes "they just don't know you"

"And you do?" Okay, ouch, I know he's upset but really?

I stroke his cheek with my hand "yes, I do. I know that you hate the dark, I know you have a brother... who wasn't very nice" understatement "I know you've been alive for four thousand years, you're thoughtful, tentative, gentle. You like music from every era, you have a sweet tooth for honey, and you hate cucumber" from the story's he tells me I know so much more, but if I didn't stop there then we'd be wasting precious moonlight.

His sweet smile expands to the entire width of his face, he leans forward and kisses me tenderly before Larry walks in, he doesn't say anything he just taps his watch and leaves "our time is up" he says nonchalantly, with glistening, tear filled eyes he leans forward and rests his forehead on mine, I listen to him breathe before he whispers quietly "return to me Celeste. Promise me you will"

"I promise" his hand reaches up and strokes my cheek "I promise I will"

He pulls away and stands up slowly, reaching his hand down to help me up off the floor "you must leave now, I never wanted you to see me like..." his eyes travel away to his sarcophagus "... that"

"No, I'm not afraid" I stand my ground, I want him to know that I can deal with seeing him like that, now that the shock is gone.

"My sweet Celeste. I am" why? Why should he be afraid? Before I can ask, Larry comes back in and tells us that we're out of time, Ahkmenrah orders him to take me away, I don't fight against Larry, but I don't take my eyes away from Ahkmenrah until he's out of sight.

Larry takes me down the stairs and towards the front desk, Rexy is just about positioning himself on his stone pedestal as we near the doors. We stop when we hear a yell coming from upstairs, a banging noise and another yell "ah, not tonight" Larry sighs.