"Will you show me the way and please thank Tiy for her very generous gift? She was a tremendous joy to Harekini and Pishkini as were you son, during their lives upon this earth." Senefru states in a brief moment of sanity before he begins crying and screaming in grief again.
He no longer cares what happens to his home here in Egypt, to the Pharaoh, or the people as insanity takes over of his mind again.
Senefru keeps insanely pleading with his dead wife and son to forgive him for what he's done to them, as he numbly follows Crown Prince Thutmose to the Queen's tomb.
Thutmose is greatly saddened to see such a wonderful man go completely insane but, he understood it at the same time.
In the tomb, his beautiful wife and baby son will be lovingly laid to rest as family members of the queen.
Once Senefru and Thutmose are in the tomb, Thutmose surprises Senefru with his insight. He knows Senefru needs to do this alone. So he lays a hand silently on Senefru's shoulder in sorrow and respect and leaves the tomb. Thutmose's heart shatters as he walks away.
When Thutmose walked several yards respectfully away from the tomb, he falls to his knees. With his head in his hands, he screams out in tremendous agony over the loss of the only real and truly loving mother he's ever known.
Growing up, Harekini loved him and raised him as her own baby. She showered him with overwhelming unconditional love and encouragement. He screamed at the Gods in anger, asking them why they hadn't intervened on Harekini and Pishkini's behalf.
Before Thutmose could stand up weakly once again and stagger back to the cold confines of the palace which, will never again hold any warmth for him, not now that his only mother is gone from this life, he feels a hand upon his shoulder.
Standing up weakly and unsteadily, he turns, expecting to see mother Tiy next to him. It's not her, instead it's Senefru.
"I just wanted to tell you, Thutmose, that Harekini loved you as deeply as a mother can love her son. You may have been born to Tiy, but to Harekini, you've always been
her
baby.... always."
"Thutmose, you brought such incredible joy to her life. More than any mere words of mine can adequately explain. Just know that wherever she is, a part of her heart and soul will always remain with you and guide you Thutmose. All I ask is that you make her proud as you grow in the man she always knew you would be..." Senefru says, knowing the boy's pain is as great as his own. He walked away knowing that the poor boy needs to hear the truth so that he can become the great ruler he's always meant to be. He prayed to the Gods to spare Thutmose, that he will do right by them as ruler.
Thutmose watches Senefru with his shoulders and back slumped over appearing much older than his age as he walks back to the tomb to prepare and bury the only two people he'd ever loved in this life.
Thutmose is sad as he knows he's going to lose the only loving father he has ever known. But, he knows that he'll no longer remain here, his so called real father has taken too much from Senefru this time and so callously! He thinks becoming angry with Amenhotep III.
Hours later, Thutmose still hasn't seen nor has he heard from Senefru. He's incredibly worried that Senefru is preparing the two bodies all alone for mummification, afraid to ask for help. Thutmose doesn't care if it's a job for slaves only. He knows how to do it and decides to leave the palace and head to the tomb to offer his help. It's the least he can do for the people he loves as his mother and little brother.
"Oh Gods, No!" Thutmose exclaims stopping in his tracks at the entrance to the tomb's burial chamber. He takes in the shocking sight of Harekini and Pishkini's uncovered decapitated bodies laid gently out on the burial slab with love. Pishkini is still in his mother's loving arms looking as if he's merely smiling in his sleep. The bloody sheet is lying discarded on the floor.
His shock knows no boundaries as he confronts what Amenhotep III has ordered. It's a horrifying undertaking. He sees that his Mama's beautiful hair is all gone along with large chunks of her scalp leaving her skull showing in several places.
Thutmose then looks at sweet Pishkini and feels his stomach heading toward his throat. There's still bits of dried blood in his sweet curls and the sight of his little brother decapitated is almost too much at the moment. At least now he knows why Senefru is so completely broken, he was forced to be murder his own wife and baby, unable to refuse.
In his anger, he knows Amenhotep III deserves death for this horrifying crime and he will see that he gets it! He now understands why Tiy didn't want him to see them.
That isn't the extent of the horror he sees. No, not by a long shot. Thutmose stares at Senefru for a second and run from the tomb. Once he's outside the tomb, he loses his supper. The image is forever burned into his memory. Senefru, dead. He tried to decapitate himself with the same sacrifice sword he used on his wife and child.
He hadn't been able to finish hacking away at his own neck before bleeding to death. His body laid over the lower half of his wife. His hand was reaching for her cheek, his head laid on Pishkini's back.
The knowledge that Senefru was awake and completely aware when he hacked through his own neck and then, bleeding to death, he would have been in tremendous agonizing pain. The visualization going on in his head is beyond words.
When the shock finally wears off and his stomach is empty, he returns to the burial chamber of the tomb to mummify and wrap the family himself.
In the tomb again, Thutmose straightens his shoulders and whispers, "I pray you're now finally at peace my dear friend and father with your family in the great afterlife."
He turns to go and get his mother's help when he hears her gasp loudly and then screams in anguish.
"Mother! I was just coming to get you, to prepare you for this...." Thutmose's words trail off as his mother moves into the chamber and whispers, "Oh Senefru..." in the most heartbreaking tone he'd ever heard come out of her mouth.
He watches as Tiy's heart breaks for the man whose mind completely shattered after being forced to kill his own wife and son under his father's cold and callous orders.
He also sees the deep hatred his mother feels in that moment for Amenhotep. He's destroyed a whole family, an amazing family with beautiful souls that were blessed by Ra-Amun himself.
"Thutmose, say not one word to your father about this, it's none of his business. I
will
deal
with him! Now, please go and gather my tomb slaves. Together, we will honor our loved ones as royal family members. We will see them properly mummified and lain together as a family and wrap them all together in each other's arms with the babe between his mama and daddy." Tiy sighs heavily as her shoulders slump making her appear much older than her age.
"The Gods are severely angered. I fear for the future of this kingdom if your father and I do not pay the price." Tiy whispers before sighing deeply and sadly again.
"He's gone too far this time and I refuse to rule with him a moment longer. Once this task is done, I will take a faster acting poison to appease the Gods. Promise me, you'll be a good king in your time as Pharaoh. Be the kind and fair man Harekini always saw you as, make her proud son."
Over the following week, the bodies of Senefru, Harekini, and Pishkini are carefully and lovingly prepared for the afterlife as if they're royal family. Tiy and Thutmose alone wrap them up as a family with Harekini and Pishkini wrapped in Senefru's arms instead of individually, which had never been done before.
When all was said and done, the people thought Queen Tiy had fallen ill of a broken heart. Tiy had banned Amenhotep from her wing of the palace since the day she found her family friends dead.
Tiy prayed to the Gods to please take her life to right the wrong done to her friends, taking the burden upon herself, she begs the Gods to please spare Thutmose.
Later that night, the Gods grant her wish. She died quietly in her sleep with only Thutmose at her bedside, holding her hand. He was also the one responsible for seeing she was mummified and wrapped then laid to rest in the burial tomb next to her beloved friends, her only family she had left. The tomb was sealed for all time after that.
Two weeks later, Thutmose becomes the new Pharaoh after the people of the kingdom dragged his father from his bed, tortured him severely, and then decapitated him on the same altar he ordered his best friend to kill his son upon. Justice and irony have finally been served.
FOUR DAYS LATER....
I SLOWLY CRACK my heavy eyes open in confusion. I don't understand why I'm in my bed. The last thing I remember is being in my den with Senefru. It's strange, I feel like myself and yet different too. It's as if I'm two people in one body and unsure of how to reconcile the differences.
I lay completely still trying to make sense of my dreams. Has everything to this point been real or just a dream? My answer presents itself on the side of my bed. I jump up to my knees in fear prepared to plead for who or whatever it is, to just go away. To leave me in peace to heal my shattered and confused brain and soul.
"Jinny?" I hear my name being spoken by a deep sexy bedroom voice that can't be all bad. Soon enough, the owner of the voice comes into view. My body tenses up tighter than a drum, my heart picks up speed in my chest, and adrenaline rushes through my veins.
"Who...who are you? What are you doing in my bedroom?" I ask suddenly scared as I fly off my bed and land on my feet halfway across the room.
Leaning back against the wall, I'm blinded by an agonizing pain rips around in my head.
"Ahhh!" I scream and press my hands tightly against my temples!
As suddenly as the pain appeared, it disappears and takes my momentary confusion with it.
"Jinny, are you alright, love? You've been unconscious for four days! I thought I'd lost you forever. Thank God you're alright!" He exclaims happily, his eyes are filled with so much love.
Wait a minute! I know exactly who this man is and what he's done to me! I fear he's here to kill me again! My eyes rapidly search my bedroom for a means of escape.
Anger begins to build up inside of me as the answers I seek quickly come to the forefront of my mind. I feel like a dangerous animal whose been cornered by a larger predator.
Franklin watches Jinny's eyes and face as fear and confusion turn into shock and disbelief and then finally into recognition and anger.
He doesn't need to read her thoughts to know she picked up on the one memory he's prayed would be the last to surface.
He watches her curiously yet fearfully as she rubs her neck absentmindedly. He muses over how far she leapt from her bed. It's another angelic ability she's developed that only manifests when she's afraid. It's a protective ability that will serve to only help keep her safe.
Franklin is shocked to see a deep crimson red thin line tattoo wrap around her neck exactly where she's rubbing absentmindedly. It's in the exact spot where she'd been decapitated centuries ago at his hands. He gasps, at a complete loss for words.
What Jinny has to say next, forces his legs to give out. He crumples to the floor at her feet with tremendous physical and emotional pain. Pain he's blocked not to feel for the past 3,386 years.
I growl, my voice filled with evil menace in an old long dead language that I understand and speak perfectly. I feel as if the other half of me has just pushed me aside.
"Senefru! It
is
you! You murdered our baby boy Pishkini, you cold hearted bastard! He was an innocent baby blessed by Ra-Amun himself! You murdered us both and for what? For the blasphemous order given by
your
Pharaoh?" I pace the room agitatedly then stop at glare at him.
"You lacked the balls to stand up to Amenhotep, to allow me to take Pishkini away to save his little life!" I feel myself hyperventilate as the pain of missing my sweet baby boy becomes extremely overwhelming.
When I finally get my breathing under control, I growl at him again, far from done saying what I never had the chance to so long ago.
"I cursed you all to an eternity in Hell. The Gods allowed my spirit to remain behind to watch as your soul shattered. As you took the cowardly way out. Then I watched as the Gods avenged our deaths. Poor Tiy went first by her own hand after she shunned Amenhotep. His death was vicious yet well deserved. Amenhotep died on the same altar my son died upon. Each person in the order was murdered by the Gods to right the wrongs. They were all rejected by Ra-Amun and sent straight to Hell. To the underworld of the devil himself just as they deserved."
I take several deep breaths before continuing. I feel the anger coursing through me so badly that my body is visibly shaking.
"Senefru, you could have set us free! Queen Tiy would have set us free and helped us escape but, not you! You loved your damn blasphemous sacrifices of children and your so-called order more than you did either of us..." My voice trails off as my rant ends. There's no more to say.
"Harekini, please let me explain! I was ordered to do it. It was our punishment for having a child without Amenhotep's permission. I willingly took 50 lashes to the back to get you those five years with our son!" Senefru begs Jinny, his Harekini, to understand, as he speaks in the old dead language as well.
"I couldn't tell you the truth, I couldn't let you bear that burden. I know I should have taken you and Pishkini that night after I'd been beaten disappeared into the night. Instead, I stayed and told you that I'd defied him but, just not all of it. Please forgive me, Harekini!" He begs her as he crumples into a small ball on the floor. Only his hand is reaching out for her, his pain almost unbearable. He's afraid that this time when his mind shatters, it won't be able to be repaired.
"I saw everything Senefru! My spirit remained to watch as I said until Thutmose became the man he was meant to be, the new Pharaoh, before my soul could move on."