Hidden Secrets of the Amulet

The hotel's room key card was late in working. I knocked on the door with my knuckles and waited for a response. After a few moments of silence, I moved to the side and peered through the crack between the door and frame. The room was dark with only a small light illuminating the entranceway from a lamp in the corner.

"Hello?" I called out. "Anyone here?"

The door closed behind me, trapping me inside. When I turned around, I saw a man standing behind me with a gun pointed at my head. In his other hand he held an amulet that glowed with power.

"You know what this is, don't you?" he asked. "This amulet contains the last remaining piece of a powerful ritual which will return back my world to its former glory." He waved his hand through the air above him as if drawing something into existence. "With this ritual completed, my people will be free from their captivity and we can go back to living like kings."

I nodded slowly, not wanting to upset him any further. He was dressed in black military clothes and had dark skin like most of the people in Armenia, but he spoke English perfectly. His accent sounded familiar; he was probably from somewhere in South America where Spanish was commonly spoken.

"I have been searching for this amulet for centuries," he continued, "and now that you've found it for me I can finally start working on the ritual." Now it made sense why he'd kidnapped me; he needed someone who could read ancient Sumerian hieroglyphics. Without the amulet's missing piece, it would be nonsense gibberish to him. It hadn't even occurred to me that there were two pieces to this amulet until now; both parts had been embedded into separate pieces of jewelry that were thousands of years old... one looked like an Aztec stone carving, and one looked like an ancient Celtic knot design carved into some sort of gold bracelet. Where did these items come from? Why had they been buried underground? How did I find them? Were they supposed to be together somehow? This was all so confusing... whatever happened, it probably wasn't good if some guy from South America wanted them so badly. And now he had his gun aimed at my head... I really wished that key card would work on this door!

He grabbed my arm roughly and led me over to the bed where he sat down and placed his gun on his lap while still holding onto the amulet. He motioned for me to sit next to him and leaned back against the headboard so we were both facing each other. We sat in silence for several minutes while I figured out what my best course of action would be while trying not to anger him further than he already appeared to be. Finally, my mind started working again and it dawned on me that I wasn't alone in this room... or maybe not anymore... because right then three women walked into the bedroom holding up their hands as if they didn't want any trouble either! Geez, how long had they been standing there watching us?! They were all wearing bathrobes similar to mine and their hair was soaking wet from taking showers after being out all day exploring Yerevan... but what really got my attention about them was what they were holding! A large magnifying glass! A bottle opener! A screwdriver! And a pair of pliers! Oh no.. did these women just sneak into our room?! At least they all seemed non-threatening and looked like they knew each other; maybe they were from our tour group too?! The waitress hadn't shown up yet with our drinks so maybe she left her key card behind by accident?! Whatever happened before we arrived here, these women obviously knew about it too since they were prepared with tools they thought we might need... but who were they planning on using them on?! Was it us?! And who's 'we' anyways?! What kind of situation are we all caught up in now?! The South American man moved away from me slightly when he saw that we weren't alone anymore but still kept us within his line of sight! He kept his gun pointed at us and raised himself off the bed slightly just enough to keep an eye on our guests as well.. He didn't look happy at all but stayed quiet while our new friends approached cautiously!

The first woman reached us first; she slipped past our captor effortlessly without being seen until she stood directly next to him with her hands raised above her head. She was only about five feet tall but she made up for her size by presenting herself as though she was much bigger than she actually appeared to be! Her eyes locked onto him as if time itself froze for everyone else in the room except for those two... clearly she could see straight through him with her gaze just like she could see through everything else around her! The second woman stepped up next when she passed by the first woman and stood alongside her friend who couldn't take her eyes off of our captor! She pulled out her magnifying glass just like she'd done before when I was sneaking around our hotel room looking for lost items earlier today... but how had she known what we were doing back then?! How long had she been watching us?! Our captor tried to hide his face under his arm but failed miserably since both women quickly caught sight of him anyway! Once again, time seemed frozen while their eyes locked onto each other; neither one of them seemed very interested in anything else going on around them but rather kept their focus solely on each other until another one of our guests finally arrived at our side! She held up her bottle opener in front of her chest proudly as if it signified something significant about herself or something important about our situation... whatever it meant though didn't seem very positive towards our captor who glared at her angrily before turning away from all four of us once more.... But then suddenly another woman arrived at my side! She held up her set of pliers threateningly towards him which caused him to point his gun directly between her eyes almost immediately after noticing her arrival! He didn't seem intimidated by anything about any one person among us yet he seemed terrified by all four simply being together at once... whatever happened before we arrived here must've involved a lot more people than just us five otherwise why would there be weapons left behind specifically suited for such a large number!? Whatever happened must've also involved evil intentions towards anyone whom got in their way because these 'tools' we brought along with us definitely weren't meant to fix anything broken or put together anything neat or tidy ...they'd probably cause damage instead!! Although none of this made any sense whatsoever, I felt as though we might finally have an advantage over this guy since there were now five people against one instead of four against one -- he'd been outnumbered before but never outgunned until now!! Even though we were guests trapped inside a hotel room unable to escape due to having no key cards which had already been confiscated by our captor -- or even phone signals which worked even worse since there didn't seem to be any cell service anywhere near Yerevan -- at least now we weren't completely helpless!! We may have only brought pliers & screwdrivers & magnifying glasses & bottle openers & mini screwdrivers along with us as tools... but they certainly seemed more effective than guns right now given how intimidated he'd been acting towards us!!! Maybe it's because those items symbolize something greater than themselves like how only four women don't always represent weakness despite being outnumbered by men everywhere else!!! Maybe because together we're stronger than when apart!! Maybe because together we're smarter than when apart!! Maybe because together we're braver than when apart!! Maybe because together we're better than when apart!! Because together we're better than when fighting alone against someone capable of pointing a gun at your head!!! Someone capable of creating an entire world based solely around himself!!! Someone capable of stealing your entire life away without ever having met you before!!! Someone capable of stealing your future forever without ever setting foot inside your home anywhere near you before!!! Someone capable of taking away your future children without ever knowing you wanted kids someday yourself!!! Someone capable visible only through mirrors and reflections who's never actually seen your face or heard your voice before today!!! Someone capable of making you disappear forever without ever speaking to you or even thinking about you afterwards!!! Someone capable damaging your existence beyond repair without ever actually existing himself!! Someone who can make you suffer endlessly because you exist!!! Someone who can make others suffer endlessly because others exist too!!! Someone who can steal everyone's lives away just because everyone exists too!!!! No matter how many tools you bring against someone like that.... every tool is useless unless used together with everyone else!!!!!