The Shifting Sands of Time

This was written as the idea developed and needs to be redone in proper form with dialogue and more details

Anna and Ella, fraternal twins, are best friends, share an apartment, and spend most of their time together; they are not only sisters, they are best friends. While listening to the radio on Saturday morning, Anna calls in the answer to a contest and wins a paid vacation to Egypt. Being best friends with Ella, she invites her sister along and they share the cost of the extra person.

Part of the vacation includes a guided tour of an ancient city, now mostly in ruins, from the back of a camel led by a tour guide. But, since only Anna had won the vacation, when they get off the bus, there is only one camel available for the two sisters. Their guide, Mohab Abadi, makes a few adjustments so they can both ride together on the camel as he leads them through the ruins and tells them the history of the ancient city.

Mohab is taken in by the attractiveness of the two sisters, and through the tour is very flirty. They are not interested in flirting with him and try to just ignore his persistence in flirting with them. Mohab is very thin, very short, and when he speaks, his voice is high pitched and nasal. He has huge ears that stick out from below his sideways skewered baseball cap and a huge nose that hooks at the end. His head is way too big for his body, he wears thick lensed, round, wire-rim glasses that are too narrow for his round face and uses excessive hand and arm gestures while talking. Ella tells Anna that he looks kind of like cross between a man and a bug. Anna replies back that she thinks he looks almost like Gollum from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit”, as he was portrayed in the movie, “Lord of the Rings”.

In spite of his constant flirting, the two sisters enjoy the tour and when he asks if they would like to take a slight detor and get something cool to drink, they agree. He leads their camel off the well packed path and takes them deeper into the ancient city. Behind some pillars and a section of standing wall, they see dilapidated metal shack. Mohab tells them he often stays at the ancient city during the tours instead of traveling back and forth every day. He adds that he has a cooler inside with ice in it, keeping some beer chilled and is willing to share some with them.

Ella is hesitant, but Anna tells Mohab a cold beer would taste good. She states they will wait there while he goes and gets some for them. He smiles and shows he is missing a few teeth then informs them that they must come inside to enjoy a cold bottle of beer with him. Ella is still reluctant and tells Mohab they will pass on the beer, take us back to the tour.

Mohab, still grinning, says he has more to offer them than cold beer. He adds that he has always fantasized about having two females and garentees them he can please them both many times.

Anna tells him they are not interested in him or his perverted fantasies and to just lead them back to the rest of the tour. Mohab stops his foolish grinning and becomes angry. He tells her he will not take them back until they accept his hospitality and give him a chance to show them his sexual talents.

Ella informs Mohab that she would rather have sex with the camel than with him and if he does not take them back right now, she and Anna will start screaming and tell the others he tried to rape them.

Mohab, even angrier now, drops the lead and bends down grabbing a hand full of desert sand in each hand. Next, he stretches out his arms towards the sisters and as he begins chanting something in Egyptian, lets the sand slowly sift from his fingers. When the sand is all dropped back to the desert floor, he claps his hands and yells out, “You are both now cursed. No one will see or hear you, no one will help you, and you will be trapped within your curse until you both are willing to pleasure me as I desire.”

Ella tells him he had his chance and begins to scream as loud as she can, Anna also begins to scream. Mohab covers his big ears to block the noise and the camel lets out a loud bellow and takes off running. Only, instead of running back to the stable area, it runs from the ruins and out into the open desert. The sisters turn and look to see if Mohab is going to come after them, but he is standing in the same place, laughing.

Soon the camel goes over a sand dune and the ruins and Mohab are lost from site. By the time they climb another dune, he and the ruins are far in the distance, quickly vanishing from site. Anna, who is in front, tries to reach the lead rope but can’t without fear of toppling off the running beast. All they can do is hold on for dear life and wait for the frightened beast to calm down.

After a while, the camel slows to a normal walking pace and continues to take them out into the lifeless desert. Anna tries again to lean forward and reach the lead rope, managing to finally grasp hold and sit back with it in her hand. She tries pulling back on it and telling the camel whoa up, but it does no good. She tries again and the camel stops but she cannot get it to turn around or move. They don’t want to get off the animal, fearing it may run away and they would be stuck out there with no supplies, so they sit on the camel’s back waiting for it to do something. Ella tells Anna to just be patient, sooner or later it will return to the stables, just like a horse would.

While they wait, the hot sun beating down on them, a slight wind begins to blow. At first it’s just a slight breeze, but soon it begins to pick up and soon it’s blowing sand and grit. A short distance in front of them, a whirl-wind lifts up the desert sand forming a large dust devil of sand that was slowly moving towards them. Anna warned Ella and they closed their eyes to keep the sand out as it engulfed them. They could feel the stinging sand on their exposed skin, then as fast as it came, it was finished. They opened their eyes and the desert was calm again, just as before.

Anna tells Ella she is hoping the camel hurries up and takes them back, she wants nothing more than to get on the bus, return to their hotel, and get out of the sandy cloths and into a hot shower. Just as she raises her tank top to let the gritty sand fall out, the camel turns and starts walking. At first it seems he is going the wrong direction, but then Anna sees the tracks he left when he brought them out here. As the camel trudges along the same trail, the girls begin to talk about what they are going to do when they get back.

What if the camel takes them back to Mohab’s shack? Hopefully he came to his senses and went and told someone the camel ran off with them. Someone has to notice they are missing or soon will when they are not back to get on the bus. Likely, they will soon see people out searching for them, if Mohab told anyone, but if not, they would not know what direction to start looking, if they were lost in the ruins or out in the desert. The sisters scanned the horizon watching for a search party and the distant outlines of the ruins as the camel retraced its path back.

As they top a huge sand dune, they see they are very close to the ancient city, but it’s different, no longer in ruins and there are people moving around the streets. Both Anna and Ella had quick watching the camel’s prints in the sand and when they looked now, there were none. Of course, the wind may have filled them in, but this was not the same place they had left. Or, perhaps not the same time they had left, since it was quite apparent this was the same place but before time had turned it to the ruins they had visited earlier.

As they talked about what they were seeing, Ella suggested it was a mirage created by the heat and dry desert air. Anna agreed, it must be a mirage. Either that or the time they had spent out in the desert was longer than they had thought and they had gotten dehydrated and were seeing things. But, if that was the case, they should both be bright pink or darker red from the blistering sun overhead. Also, the sun had not traveled far and was still high in the afternoon sky.

Soon the camel stopped, just a few hundred yards from the city. The sisters tried to kick and urge the beast onward, but it refused to move forward and lowered itself to the sand, just as it had done when they had gotten on its back. Ella slid off first, telling Anna they were close enough to walk the rest of the way. Anna also dimounted and as soon as she was off, the camel stood and turned back towards the open desert. With a loud bleating sound, it took off at a fast pace down the side of the dune and soon vanished into the shimmering air. Anna looked at Ella, rubbed her eyes and looked again for the camel. It should be climbing the opposite sand dune but there was nothing. The tracks of its passing went down the dune they stood on and vanished just as the animal had.

They started walking toward the city, hoping it was real and not a mirage. They were hot, dirty, and vary tired. They had not eaten lunch and needed water desperately. Walking side by side, they soon covered the distance in spite of the sand shifting under their flip-flop clad feet and were soon in the shadow of the pillared temple they had toured the ruins of, only now it was standing in all its glory. Ella reached out and felt the warm stone pillar and Anna ran her hand over the course blocks of the wall; it was real.

They went around the side, to the open road. People moved along the paved surface, talking and carrying items in baskets on their heads, but none seemed to notice the sisters standing there. Both Anna and Ella could see them, hear them, and even smell them as they passed, but the people seemed not to even notice them.

Anna tried talking to a woman with a friendly face as she passed by, but the woman seemed not to hear her. Ella reached out and tried to touch the woman’s arm and get her attention, but when she closed her hand it closed on nothing. Then a horse came barreling down the street pulling a two-wheeled chariot and neither Anna or Ella had time to move out of its path. With eyes squeezed shut they stood as the horse trampled them under its hooves. But they didn’t get trampled, the horse and chariot passed right through them.

The sisters first thoughts were that these people were ghosts, but soon they realize the people are real, they are the ones who are just spirits. They wonder the streets and come to a well, stop and lift the clay pot full of water from the stone well and take a drink. A passing man stares at the site of the clay pitcher floating into the air and screams out in his native tongue, then turns and runs. Surprised, Anna drops the pot and it shatters on the pavement by her feet, the shards passing right through her legs without causing any harm.

Scared, they run from the well and into the cover of the shadows as the man comes out with two others, dressed in robes and talking as the man points to the busted clay pot. Soon a group has gathered and the two robed men wave smoldering pots of some herb around the well and chant. Anna tells Ella they must be priests and are trying to drive away the evil spirits. Ella tells Anna, lets do just what they want and leave.

They walk along the wall of the temple and down a side street into an open marketplace. No one notices them, and when they don’t move out of the way of a group walking towards them, the people pass right through them. Anna asks Ella if she thinks the curse is real. Ella has no other explanation and they both soon agree, Mohab really did put a curse on them, making them nothing but spirits in an ancient Egyptian past. As they talked, they walked through the open market. The food around them had their mouths watering, and Ella couldn’t resist reaching out and grabbing a loaf of some kind of bread that was on display while Anna grabbed a handful of dates. They tried to be unobserved, but soon screams from the people who seen the items float into the air filled the marketplace. Anna and Ella ran down the paved street and around the corner. They ducked into a narrow pathway between some buildings and soon found themselves in a stable. Hiding in the straw, they sat and ate the course bread and nibbled on the dates.

Anna looked around from the empty stall they hid in and seen a leathery bag hanging from a post by another stall. The animals seemed to not notice them and she quickly retrieved the flask. She worked the stopper out and sniffed the contents as she sat back down my Ella. Ella asked if it was water, but Anna told her it smelled strong of grain and yeast, kind of like beer. She sipped a little and found the taste bitter but not unpleasant. She took a deeper drink and handed the leathery bota-bag to Ella who also took a drink.

After they had quenched their thirst and filled their stomachs, they talked about how they would get back. Since Mohab had told them the curse would be gone if they agreed to give him what he wanted, they decided they should consider it. Ella told Anna they could make some kind of plan to escape once they had returned. Since there were two of them and he wasn’t a very big or strong person, they should be able to overcome him and get away. But, Anna wasn’t sure. She suggested they look around, find some kind of weapon to use, just in case he tried to put the curse on them again.

They decided on some kind of object they could conceal and hit him with to knock him out until they could go for help. They finished the bread and dates, stashed the bottle for later, just in case they needed to stay longer, then went back out into the narrow pathway between the buildings towards the market.

It was getting late by the time they retraced their path and the market was shut down and everyone was gone. they walked down the paved street towards the temple in the distance. Anna suggested they go inside and look around, there may be something we can use in there. Ella agreed and they went in through the large arched entrance into the dimly lit temple. Torches and candles provided light enough to see by and it seemed to be deserted of anyone. Gold and ivory idols stood watching them with jewels for eyes and the sisters marveled at the wealth inside. Trays and artifacts of gold and silver decorated the temple but everything was too big to be easy to carry and they would not be able to conceal any of them.

They came to an alter that had blood stains on it, still pretty fresh and sticky to the touch. Ella asked Anna if she thought the sacrifice was to drive them, the evil spirits, away. Anna told her that was her guess, and wondered if the sacrifice was animal or person. Ella didn’t’ even want to think about that. There was a long table with linen covering it and Anna went over to look under the cloth. There were incent burners, daggers, and smaller figurines of the idols beneath. There was also a small, silver box with gold designs upon it. It was small enough to take with them, and when she picked it up it was heavy and solid. She showed Ella and told her this would work for their plan. As they started out towards the archway, voices came from behind them and when they turned they saw a group of robed figures coming out from behind a curtain they thought had just been a tapestry on the wall.

When the people in the group seen the box floating above the table they screamed and drew long curved swards and started screaming something as they moved towards the sisters. Ella grabbed a dagger and Anna grabbed Ella by the wrist and pulled. She yelled for her to run. Still holding the box in one hand and Ella in the other, she headed as fast as she could for the archway with Ella just a half a step behind her. She didn’t know if the swords would do any damage, but if the curse worked, they may be able to say or do something that would trap them there forever, maybe even kill them.

They ran back along the wall and down the center of the market, trying to keep behind tables and stands to conceal the items they had taken. When they reached the narrow pathway between the buildings Anna stopped and looked back. She expected to see the group still charging them but there wasn’t anyone. Walking quickly the sisters returned to the stable and the empty stall. Anna told Ella that she would have to hide the box since she had on a loose fitting shirt and could conceal it. Ella still had the dagger she had picked up and now they looked at its razor sharp edge and emerald studded hilt.

Ella handed it to Anna as she took the box, telling her to tuck it into her shorts. Anna was reluctant but Ella convinced her when she said that Mohab may be more dangerous than they had thought and what if he gets the box away from me before I can knock him in the head, or what if I don’t knock him out and he gets even madder and takes it away. Anna thought about it a minute, then looked at Ella. She said she was right, they better keep the dagger, just in case they need it.

They dug the bota-bottle out of the straw and took turns drinking as they talked and made their plans. We will get ready and then agree to Mohabs demands. Depending on how we get back, Ella would try and knock him out with a good smack to his head with the heavy box. If that didn’t work, Anna would be ready to use the dagger and stab him. Now, they just had to concentrate on giving Mohab his fantasy.

Sitting in the soft straw the two sisters closed their eyes and focused all their thoughts on what Mohab had asked of them. It was hard to actually force herself to think of having sex with the funny looking, but very evil Mohab, but it was the only way to lift the curse. Anna concentrated as hard as she could. Ella also closed her eyes after watching her sister for a minute and gave her will over to granting Mohab his fantasy.

As she focused her thoughts she felt a stirring in the air and heard a soft humming noise. The noise grew louder and the air moved faster around her, then someone grabbed her wrist and shook her. Sitting up and opening her eyes as she screamed out, she saw Anna standing in front beside her. She was saying something but she couldn’t hear her sister’s voice.

Again Anna moved her mouth and this time more loudly told Ella to stop screaming. She did and then Anna asked her what was wrong. Ella was sitting on her bed in the hotel room; the curse was gone. As she started to look around her Anna asked again if she was awake now. Ella just nodded and looked back at her sister, dressed in a black tank top and shorts.

“It’s after nine already, we need to get moving if we are going to catch the bus for the tour of the temple city ruins. We over slept and won’t have time to eat breakfast, but maybe they will have lunch at the site.”

Ella took Anna’s hand and asked, “Don’t you remember, we went to the ruins and Mohab put a curse on us?”

Anna looked confused. “The tour is today, Ella. You must have been dreaming. Who is Mohab?”

“A dream?” Ella rubbed her eyes and looked back at Anna. “More like a nightmare, Sis.”

“You can tell me about while you get dressed, we only have a half hour till the bus leaves, and we need to get going if we are still doing this tour.”

“To tell you the truth, Anna, I don’t want to go now. I now, you didn’t want to go in the first place but I insisted. But after the horrid dream I had, I really don’t want to go now. Are you alright with that?”

“Alright, I’m great with that. I didn’t want to go out and ride some stinky camel around some old ruins anyway. What do you say to getting dressed, having a nice breakfast and then going shopping instead?”

They ate breakfast and Ella filled Anna in on her nightmare, taking her time and not skipping any details. She was surprised how real it all still seemed. Anna patted her hand and told her that was the worst nightmare she had ever heard. “I’m glad you decided against the tour of the ruins, especially after hearing about your dream.” They spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon shopping and visiting sites around the city.

When they got back to their hotel and put their purchases away they went down to the dining area for a nice dinner. There on the table was a local newspaper. Neither of the sisters could read Egyptian, but the picture on the front page told them all they needed to know. Half the page was filled with an image of the ruins, a metal shack and the body of Mohab sprawled out in the dust. A small box lay beside him on the sand in a pool of blood. There was a gash on his head and a dagger protruded from his chest, buried up to the emerald studded hilt. Standing a short distance away was his camel.