the curse - 1 - [rottmnt - COMPLETED]

#69

April walked up the steps to the Natural History Museum and finished the last sips of her very strong coffee. As she stood in front of the entrance, she adjusted her jacket and brought her backpack to the front to stow her empty mug in it. As she zipped it up again, she could hear the coins jingling softly in the small compartment. She had still forgotten to unpack them at home and sighed, annoyed. Her memory had suffered a lot lately, and her already bad sleep rhythm was completely ruined.

So now she had to go into the museum with the coins they were stolen from and pretend she didn't know where they were. ‘Great, April O'Neil, just great!’

She stifled a yawn, hoping that the thrill of this endeavor would at least help her stay alert and awake.

She pulled out her phone and saw that Casey had texted her.

‘Hey April, can we talk? Call me!’

She groaned and looked at the time. She was already too late for her appointment with the Hall of Asian People's chief archivist. 'Casey, you idiot, you have to wait now!' she thought, activated the audio recording of her phone, put it on mute, took a deep breath and went inside.

—

Donnie and Shiro lay embraced in his bed. Lines of white and purple swirled around them in a slow dance. They appeared and disappeared again, curled up and unraveled, played around and separated, in hypnotic paths.

Shiro's breathing was deep and relaxed, no dream, no thought, no one reached her in her sleep. She was safe and found rest.

Donnie slept soundly. Even in the deepest sleep, he held Shiro tightly. To embrace her was a law of nature against which he was absolutely powerless

—

“There is no one ‘Asian’ country, Mrs O’Neil.” said the middle-aged lady to April as they walked down the steps to the archives. Her voice was calm and pleasant, her dress was black, elegant, and simple.

April walked beside her, trying to concentrate, but the pleasant chanting in the woman's voice…what was her name?…didn't help her much

“Forty-six countries make up Asia. These nations are placed together as a cultural entity because of historical contact and shared cultural traits. From the earliest times to the present, large-scale processes of cross-cultural interaction have linked the various sub-regions of Asia and also connected Asia as a whole to the larger world. This way please.”

The woman used her security card and a code to open a door, the edges of which glowed green, and held the door open for April

"Thanks." said April, stifling a yawn.

“We are now in the written archives of our museum. You must have made quite an impression on Professor Dean, he never lets the press in down here." the woman smiled at her teasingly as they walked past endless shelves full of folders, rolls, and books.