“Hey Bitch! Put that back!” Daniel demanded. Sandra ignored him, feeling the vibrations increase. Quickly, he took the silver ball and placed it jittering back on the pedestal.
“What the hell did I just tell you? We need to see if this place really is abandoned.”
“You know, you can be a big dick sometimes Daniel!” She pouted, and turned away.
“Well, you’re always in need of big dick for some reason babe.” He smacked her on the butt.
“Uh!” She glared back.
Daniel laughed, “Don’t act like you don’t like it!”
She did. Lately all she could think about was sex. That was soon overcome, however, by her fish-like attention span. “Look at that stuff over there!” She excitedly went to the other side and stared at the assortment of strange chemistry objects.
Daniel sighed, he was happy to have a casual fuck buddy, but Sandra seemed to have the mind and energy of an eight year old. Now that he thought about it, Sandra was acting completely different. Sandra before was fully focused on her Archeology/History Double major, and acted as if she never had time for sex. Daniel decided she must have a damn good stash of drugs somewhere, and she had better share.
He told her sternly, “I’m going to see if Andrew is in here. Don’t mess with any more stuff.” As soon as Daniel turned his back she started messing with stuff.
Daniel peeked into one of the doors. It was dark, but immediately he noticed a white screen. A computer screen. And there was a man busily typing in front of it.
“Um, hello.” The man ignored him. Then Daniel saw he had on a large set of head phones. The man looked to be late twenties and was heavily concentrated on his work. Daniel approached, and could hear classical music blaring. He tried again, “Hello!?”
The man went wide eyed, “You-THERFUCK!” A shiny pistol appeared in his hand. The bright overhead lights came on. Suddenly calm. “Who - THE FUCK!!! - are you?” He spoke calmly except for the two words. The .45 caliber revolver pointed directly at Daniels chest.
Daniel prayed he wasn’t about to get shot, putting his hand in the air. “Oh, shit, don’t shoot! I didn’t mean any harm! We were just exploring! Were just college kids on break!”
The man smirked, and holstered his gun inside his striped button up shirt. “You’re clearly an idiot - and not a threat.”
“Um, thank you…” Daniel was just relieved he wasn’t dead.
The man buttoned his shirt up all the way, “But just how many of you idiots are there?”
“Me and just two others. We were just looking around.”
The man turned to his computer and typed a few words into his keyboard, “Oh sure. You just entered an abandoned mineshaft for shits and giggles.” He closed some programs on his computer and began shutting it down. “Then you discovered what was clearly not abandoned, but private property, and decided to fuck around anyway. You fucking college kids. Campuses get worse every year, and I can’t even escape to the Sierra Madre del Sur Mountains. Even here the degeneracy permeates!”
Daniel didn’t know what to say about this unexpected tirade. “I’m sorry?”
“Actions have consequences. I’ll have to think about your … consequences. This mountain is not an ordinary place. There are many strange phenomenon here that must be carefully studied, before people can just waltz up here willy nilly. I need you to tell me anything at all strange you have encountered before you came here. Any monuments, hallucinations, health problems?”
“Well we bypassed the mining facility and found this shaft, and your residence of course. Also the Aztec carvings before.”
“They’re actually of a much earlier group called the Izapa, but that’s likely too much to ask of a college student.”
“Well I’m a business major.”
“Of course you are.” The man seemed amused.
Now Daniel thought, “But my friend Sandra… Well it is strange. She has above a 4.0 GPA, but lately she’s been … well, really stupid.”
“That could mean ….. yes. That could be important, I’ll see to that. For now let’s round up your friends and maybe I’ll be lenient. Where are they?”
“Sandra’s just out there, and we we’re looking for Andrew.”
They exited what appeared to be the man’s study, and entered the main room with the silver ball.
Sandra greeted them anxiously, “Daniel! And, um, are you the wizard?”
The man smirked, “Oh yeah, I’m the wizard, all right. Call me Merlin.” He remarked sarcastically.
“Um I’m Sandra, nice to meet you Merlin.
He laughed and turned to Daniel, “You weren’t kidding were you? I guess I may as well be Merlin to you.”
Sandra looked confused, “Ok well um, what did you? – well, how is this? – Um, I’m not sure –“ She fumbled her words.
“Out with it girl!”
Sandra spat it out, “Well, I have a tail.” She reached behind and pulled out a grey wolf tail.
Daniel, awestruck stared at it wide eyed.
The strange man, was annoyed, “You idiots.”