On display

"Be careful now!" Mrs. Fontaine called out as Cora and Kali placed the crate on a cart and wheeled it towards the statue wing. "We open in thirty minutes, and we do not want our latest attraction broken!"

"Well, not all of us..." Cora muttered.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Sorry, Mrs. Fontaine." Kali replied, elbowing her coworker in the stomach, earning a glare from the Irish woman. "Lucky Charms here is creeped out by how uncannily life-like this thing is."

"Just get it on display, please."

Inside the crate, Barbara had gotten back into the position the statue had been in as she overheard everything, trying her best not to panic out loud. "Emily please hurry!" She muttered under her breath.

"Please be careful with that! It's extremely fragile!" Emily warned as the bellhop wheeled the crate into her hotel room. Reaching into her wallet, she pulled out a five and handed it to the young woman. "I'm afraid the most I can tip you right now is five bucks, but -"

"Eh, still more than most other people tip me for bringing up worse." The bellhop said with a shrug as she took the money. "You have a good night, Ma'am."

Emily closed the door as the bellhop left, plopping herself down onto the bed as she looked up at the ceiling. "Don't worry, Barb." She said as she set an alarm for noon the following day, "I'm coming for you!"

Barbara remained still as she heard the lid to the crate being opened and removed, seeing Cora and Kali looking down at her.

"This thing still gives me the creeps." Cora groaned.

"Just shut up and help me get it onto the platform, you superstitious lunatic." Kali groaned in annoyance, shaking her head as the two women reached down to lift Barbara up by her arms and legs.

"Faith and Begorrah!" Cora exclaimed, letting go of Barbara's arms. "This thing even feels real! I don't want to do this anymore, Kali!"

"Just shut up already!" Kali snapped, "If it will calm you down, this thing is gonna be on display for a month anyway before we... You know."

Barbara was a little confused by that remark, but didn't have time to think as the two women picked her up again. Thanking her lucky stars that she wasn't ticklish around her wrists and ankles, Barbara was lifted into the air and placed upright on a cold, marble platform in the middle of the statue wing.

"Kali? Did ya just feel this thing shiver?"

Barbara inwardly panicked. Oh no.

"Cora, I swear! If I hear one more word out of you about this stupid statue today, I will slap you!" Kali snapped in annoyance.

Barbara inwardly sighed in relief. "That was too close." She thought as Cora and Kali began to walk away, "Perhaps once they’re gone I can make a break for -"

Suddenly, the sounds of footsteps echoing through the building and a voice calling out in French ended her train of thought as a tour group came into the statue wing.

"Oh, crap..."