Many of GeekaChicas' contributors are writers. One of our newest Chicas, Oberonia, has jumped into the spirit of things this Halloween by offering up one of her horror stories in two parts.
Her delicate fingers twisted the brush tool lightly. Lara had to be careful. If she ruined another sample, the site director, Dr. Lloyd, would be furious and she would be sent home for sure. Brush, brush, twist. She watched the brush and sample closely. The remnants were mostly shards of clay, probably a pot or bowl that predated all of the nonexistent findings she had made thus far. As a single lock of perfectly timed hair fell over her left eye, a gust of wind swept the dirt upward, a dose of nature that was mostly absorbed by the hair hanging in her face and her glasses. Unfortunately for her other eye, a small piece of silt found its way in and forced her to abandon the cleaning.
She found her way into the nearest trailer to wash out her eye. This was her second week on the small dig in Peru and she had done nothing but stumble her way through one mistake after another. Lara Berk, even through her lack of grace, was beautiful. She had a vintage feel about her with her perfectly swept up blonde hair, a handsome and angular face, and dark rimmed glasses framing her sky blue eyes. She looked like someone that had stepped out of a 1930’s German edition of Archaeology Now. All she lacked was a German accent and a riding crop. Lara, however, was neither German nor happy at the moment. She knew she should have been cleaning the clay remnants inside the research tent, but she didn’t want to move them for fear of shattering. She had already cleaned the biggest piece enough to see the bottom half of an animal, or maybe it was something like the Peruvian dinosaur pottery she had read about in Nasca. Claws were clearly visible, at any rate.
Feeling her way to the sink, she held her eye in one hand and her glasses in the other.
“Here, use the eye wash cup. It’s easier,” said Brian, who had been the voice of comfort to Lara since her arrival. He was normally stuck inside the trailer cataloging finds by those digging in the dirt and tagging outside. As usual, there was an array of objects all over his desk, his countertops, and some parts of the floor where no one would bother them.
“I feel like I’ve washed my eyes out of my head. I’m surprised there’s still something left for the dirt to stick to.” Lara smirked as she took the small cup.
“You could use the goggles, you know,” Brian added with a sniff and a grin in his charming, if not smart ass way. He was smart, tall, decently built with the sunburned complexion of most of the students on the dig. The “Sniff-n-Grin” usually made the girls swoon, though he had no clue that it did.
“They would give me a headache and then you would have me in here anyway whining for aspirin,” she countered. Had Lara spent a little more time with her head in the real world instead of in her books, she’d have recognized the flirtations of her admirer. As it was, she never noticed his advances, nor anyone else’s for that matter, not even Dr. Lloyd’s. Once, the venerable professor had tried to make the move in the back of the main tent late one night. Lara’s allergies had set her free as a massive sneezing fit temporarily delayed her mentor’s lecherous intentions.
Brian turned back to the daily tagging and Lara studiously went back to her findings. Lunch time came and went with the news that some of the field students had unearthed the remains of an unidentified species near the east edge of the dig. They would be studied more closely after the lunch break, and the photography, excavation, and tagging would become their main focus over all other projects by everyone either physically or by research.
Dusk settled over the camp as everyone retired for the evening. Morning would come a lot earlier than anyone wanted. The darkness fell.
Days and evenings began to blur together for Lara. She had been having a few odd dreams lately that had grown continually worse, and her old pal insomnia had made its way back. Against the wishes of Dr. Lloyd, and mostly out of resentment for being stuck on the research detail, Lara had thrown her attentions in the way of local legends and myths for the day. She had even conducted a quite pleasant interview with one of the hired village men. There were still no leads as to the species of the find, which Dr. Lloyd had affectionately named 'Sheldon.' No one really cared why.
A small group, that did not include Lara, had already begun the first of the excavations as one Dr. John R. Levi landed his helicopter on the far side of camp. Dr. Levi had long funded numerous digs for the good of history. As usual, his large, black Brazilian Mastiff, Piaui, exited first and bolted across the dig site. Piaui was named after the doctor’s very first dig site, and he could do no wrong. It was best if you felt the same. Piaui had just about bounded his way, snarling and drooling, to the students working on the still unknown remains. So far, five full bones had been unearthed, and as the sixth bone was being lifted from the dirt, Piaui cleared the top of the hill, nearly scaring the students to death.
