Day 396

They found the mummy when they were digging up the old bog to make way for a school.
Ireland may be famous for its bog mummies but people still kick up a fuss when one is found.
You should put it back and leave the bog alone. It'll bring bad luck on us all!
These people are buried for a reason, let those wretches lie!
Of course they were dismissed, the mummy was moved to a museum and the digging continued.

At first the forensic team saw nothing unusual about it, that was until someone spilt water on it.
It was strange, the mummies' skin soaked up the water before anyone could wipe it.
The skin then seemed to expand, rehydrate and smooth out.
After ten carefully measured minutes the skin looked almost alive, nothing like the rest of it.
Following a very long debate the forensics team decided to explore this further.

They dropped precise measurements of water at regular intervals on several patches of skin.
It seemed to be going well, the results showed that it needed at least 50mg of water to work.
All their careful work was ruined by a particularly enthusiastic member of the team.
So far they'd left the head alone but he wanted to see if it could speak,
Grabbing their water container he poured its contents on the mummy before he could be stopped.

The effect was immediate this time, no delay like there had been on the rest of its skin.
Within four minutes it looked to like a regular sleeping man, peaceful under the dried bog mud.
Most of them turned their attention to their overly-eager companion and berated him thoroughly.
They were so focused on their foolish co-worker that the mummies first gasp was unheard.
Despite its creaking skin they only noticed that it had moved by the time it had sat upright.

The dead man looked around confused, tried to speak but they hadn't watered his throat.
Making another rash decision the team began rehydrating him completely.
It took half an hour or so, they didn't count - too focused on this strange occurrence.
He could only gargle at first, make these deep guttural noises that shouldn't be humanly possible.
Of course he only spoke fourteenth century Gaelic, difficult to translate but they just about did.

Death.
He was begging for death.
Pleaded with them to kill him proper.
Let him die and rejoin his kin.
But they didn't know how.

Unsure of what to do with a suicidal supposed-to-be-a-shrivelled-bog-mummy they panicked.
Claimed he was some drunkard who'd broken in and was pretending to be their bog mummy.
With no ID and no understanding of modern English he was given a brief sentence and dumped,
Some say he still roams the back alleys of the city, trying to find the forensic team and beg help.
No one can say where they are though, only that their homes were found empty and muddy.