It's All Gone Weird

I've been trying to work out how to explain that experience for some time now. To the best of my knowledge, I've never been on any psychogenic drugs but this must be what they feel like. Time and Space held no meaning for me. There was a feeling of warmth that was rather comforting. I seem to remember shapes and shadows, light and dark, but nothing specific. Years ago when I had my wisdom teeth out and was on some heavy duty painkillers I guess I had a similar experience, albeit not as intense and this time there was no soreness around my jaw as the effect faded.

When reality reformed around me, I was on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. I now felt very cold. The warmth that I had just experienced was gone and the tile floor wasn't helping as it was chilled. On the plus side, the green glow was gone, returning the colors to the way I remember them. I did the 'just came to from having passed out' check. All my parts seemed to be intact. Carefully I sat up and was pleased to experience no giddiness or head rush. I felt fine, good even, if cold.

As I looked around the room, I found that my position on the floor was the prevailing theme. We'd all been knocked down. Ms. Chapman lay on her side a few feet from me, facing in the other direction. Harry was just picking himself up from the rubble of the display case, groaning softly. The gun men as well as the mummy, Djed-hor, were where they had fallen earlier. Set was crumpled up near the folding chair he'd been sitting in. It suddenly occurred to me that someone was missing: Mr. Thorndyke. He was nowhere to be seen. That seemed odd to me. I was keen to look for him but realized there were more pressing issues at hand.

I helped Harry to his feet, for which he readily thanked me. Observing his friend laying on the floor, he quickly became misty-eyed. “I cannot fathom this. I've known Larry for decades and to now be without my friend...” While we had not known each other for long, our shared experience was evidentially enough for Harry to feel some kinship with me. Sobbing, he fell upon me. I use the term 'fell' very deliberately. His sudden pressure upon me nearly knocked me back down to the ground. I staggered mightily but managed to find my balance and comfort him.

A hand tapped away at Harry's shoulder, keen to attract his attention. At first Harry seemed to not notice it. Then he actively swatted it away. Finally he turned from my shoulder enough to demand “What?”

“Is something wrong?” asked Larry.

Harry's eyes boggled. He removed himself from my person in order to hug his friend. After picking him up and spinning him around, Harry released his friend. “Don't do that again! Ever!”

Larry remained calm and confused. “Do what?”

“Be dead,” Harry explained.”Or not. Say, how are you okay?”

Larry shrugged his shoulders. “I just got knocked down. I don't know if the gun men didn't have a touch of death or if the power was already absorbed by the ESD. I just got knocked out. What happened anyway?”

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “The impact with the case took a lot out of me as well.”

They turned to me. I shrugged my shoulders as well. “Honestly? I'm not sure.” I walked over to check on Ms. Chapman. While I'm not an expert on such things, she seemed to be breathing and I think she had a pulse so I felt confident at that point she was still alive. “All I know is that something happened.”

This lack of detail seemed to irritate Harry. “Clearly something happened. If nothing happened, we'd be dead right now.” His expression grew worried. “Perhaps we are dead. Perhaps this is what happens when you die.”

“Ghost hunters becoming ghosts?” I checked. “There would be an irony to that, wouldn't there?” I considered things for a moment, tapping an undamaged case. “I don't feel dead, if that means anything. As far as I know, I've never been dead before so I guess how would I know, right?”

“We are not dead.” Ms. Chapman was sitting up now and joining our conversation. “Between Isis and the power of the Eye of Horus, Set was returned to his abyss.”

“How do we know all that?” Harry inquired.

“Isis was in my head,” Ms. Chapman explained as she worked her way back to her feet more quickly that we could offer to help. “She was kind enough to not destroy my mind while I was in there.” She walked towards us, staggered, and was prevented from falling by Larry. “There is much that I am unclear about but certain things I am confident of right now. Set has been dealt with and we are safe in that regard.”

“Well,” I said thoughtfully,”that's handy information to have.”