10

The museum was hollow. Empty. The last of the artifacts had been sent out that morning, and now all that was left were a few unimpressive bits and bobs, remnants of a society that never truly thrived. It was all they had to their names, all that really ever came out of this small, bleak land.

It was right, of course, that the artifacts be returned to the territories they were looted from. It was right that they be reunited with their cultures, their peoples.

But it probably means I'm out of a job here, she thought grimly as she walked the now empty exhibit halls and galleries. The museum would have to find a way to survive, but already she could tell that downsizing was probably going to be one of their first moves. 

Their next move? She wasn't entirely certain. A rebranding, perhaps. Maybe they'll showcase modern artists. Maybe they'll rent out galleries to companies and wealthy craftspeople who could afford it. Maybe they'll focus on education, on science, on history.

If their history didn't leave them with all that much glamour, perhaps it was in their best interest to focus on their more recent history, on their more current finds, on their development and evolution as a society, and on the ramifications of the changes and movements their society was now navigating. 

There was something profound about that, too.

But the board didn't want her opinions. Whatever they decided to do, she probably wouldn't be around to find out. 

Her phone dinged, the small sound filling the empty, hollow walls of a building once bursting at the seams with culture. Even the archives were little more than a gaping cavern, now. She pulled out her phone. 

A new email. The job she'd applied to at the museum overseas. She'd hoped to follow her beloved artifacts to their country of origin, and to care for them there.

Her thumb shook as she opened their reply.

Dear Pauline,

We thank you for your interest in joining our team. Unfortunately, 

She stopped reading, and slipped the phone back into her pocket. Yes or no; that's all she'd needed to know. When she finally processed the No, she'd go back and look at the why. 

Right now, she just wanted to say goodbye to the ghosts of the history that she'd once loved so dearly.

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