Museum

Museum

Bethany stepped out of her office and turned down the corridor towards
the exit. It was very late, too late and it was dark. Her fingers
curled around the bag slung over her shoulder. As she walked shadows
loomed over her. A million primal images flashed though Bethany's mind.
Long forgotten and never remembered memories of huge animals stalking
prehistoric man through the untamed wilderness of millions of years
ago. The long shadow of an enormous head, with great big teeth
stretched across the floor ahead of her. She stepped through it,
breathing slowly through her nose, trying to control herself. She
daren't even blink, incase some monster leapt out of a dark corner
while her eyes were closed for that split second. Incase she was
dragged down into the darkness by some ancient animal. She didn't even
want to look to left or right, just incase there was something pacing
her, watching and waiting, biding it's time until she relaxed for just
long enough so it could pounce. Bethany knew the creatures were there,
lurking in the darkness, just beyond her vision. Her heart beat wildly
around her chest, she was beginning to become concerned that her heart
would leap into her throat and suffocate her. The shadows of the beasts
lengthened and shifted. Bethany tried to convince herself that the
enormous shapes around her were figments of her imagination, but she
couldn't. They were there. She tried not to imagine the sounds of a
dark jungle at night, the screams in the black, the howls of wild
animals, the crunch of a footfall too close behind you. Finally, she
couldn't take it, couldn't take waiting for the moment. She ran, echoes
of her footsteps turned into the clattering of claws chasing her. Her
hand rested on the smooth metal door handle and she threw herself out
into the street. She stood in the doorway outside the Natural History
Museum and looked inside one last time to see the skeleton of a
dinosaur leering at her. Her breathing calmed and she swore to herself
that was the last time she worked late. She couldn't go through that
again.