Work in Progress : Mazed (Novella)

[ButrosButros_Grantos]

Prologue
If I had known then about the burden that I alone would carry then would I have made the same choices that lead up to the current situation? I would like to say yes, I really would but, to be honest (for a change) I don’t know if I would. After all it doesn’t seem fair, doesn’t seem right, why should I be the one punished for the sins of many? Why should…
I’ll stop that chain of thought now because those particular thoughts here, in this place, can be deadly and I already put myself in danger by dwelling upon them as is. I think back to how it all started, so naively and innocently but then again I guess calling any of us involved innocent is dishonest, we knew what we were doing (or thought we did) but had not reckoned on the consequences of our actions. This story, my story, more than just story, my truth?
Whatever it is I wish to unload and perhaps share some of the burden, so I will speak it aloud as if there were someone here to here me. Before I begin however you need to know about us, not just of us, this is important to me. See although we were drug (ab)users that’s not who we were, it was merely a part. Although it was the drugs that got us into the predicament, it was ourselves that made it all the worse, and too understand that, you need to understand us. So I’ll begin the truth a bit before it should start to allow you to gain a glimpse of each of us before and keep your sympathy, none of us have any need of it (I think), what I need is understanding and maybe reaffirmation about my decisions…


Chapter 1 : How do you do, and how do you do, and how do you do again?
1999

Wade stared at his wrists. The blood that emanated from his wounds circled in intricate patterns within the warm bath water. Everything seemed to be going slow which was no more than he felt he deserved, this prolonged death. It was my fault, I deserve this, she’s dead, I deserve to be dead too. No alteration in his thoughts, the same thing had been running through his head all week and finally sick of the voices he decided to silence them and maybe gain redemption by his actions. His eyes closed and his skinny frame began to sink beneath the water, his head followed and his long brown hair splayed out across the surface. The strands slid across a pollution of blood and teased it into a wonderful design, but Wade could not see it and if he had would not have managed to appreciate the beauty of it.
The door to the bathroom slammed open. Wade opened his eyes and through water, blood and hair could see his Mother standing above the tub, her mouth opened in a silent scream. She reached down and pulled his head above the surface. Her screams were not silent at all.
Lights, always lights. There was a darkened road, lit up by headlights, his lights. Her, laughing at some joke that he had since forgotten and then lights. Him, turning his head to look once more disbelievingly at his girl and lights. Lights on the wrong side of the road. Lights, always lights. Him awakening to find her carried away on a stretcher, blood stained clothing, her hand dangling in air, the cars a shell of their former selves, burned, yet one headlight continuing to glare. Light always light.
Wade stared at his wrists. The freshly stitched wounds were slightly puckered. His mum and dad stared at him, and not knowing what to say they merely held out their arms and embraced him. Wade stared at his wrists and shook his head.

Amber lay awake, it was always better to be awake at least that way she would see it coming, if it even was tonight. She rolled over and looked at the clock. 4 Am. The front door slams and she knows already what is coming. Rolling back to face the wall she waits, trembling beneath the sheets. The door to the bedroom opens creating a line of light that spills over the room, highlighting her bruised face.
‘Amber… I’m sorry babe, please?’
Amber closed her eyes and steadied her breathing, pretending to be asleep. The light grew larger as the door opened wider and he stepping into her room and shrugged out of his clothes. She felt the mattress dip beneath his weight and then his cold body pressed against hers, his strong, freezing arms wrapping around her.
‘Babe?’ he quested. The smell of beer was strong on his breath tonight. ‘Please, fuck it, I said I’m sorry.’
Amber opened her eyes and twisted her head to face him, planning to say that this was it, no more, she didn’t love him anymore, she didn’t deserve to- He put his head forward, lips parted and she forgot and let him kiss her.

Trent stood by his mother’s bed holding her hand. He looked to the right and gazed upon a picture of her, as she had been, beautiful and lively. Nothing like this shell that lay still, laboring under each breath, being eaten away by cancer.
‘Mum, I know you’re against it but, surely you might consider treatment?’ he asked in vain, for they had had this argument many times before and the outcome was always the same, but at this point it was the only thing he could do, keep trying to convince her.
‘It’s in God’s hands now, all we can do is pray,’ she simply replied as she had before and would again. Trent let go of her hand and walked from the room. He allowed his feet to take him where they would and it was not long before he found himself down at the beach, the sand squishing between his toes and the water lapping in to tickle his ankles. He looked out at the ocean and was gifted by a beatific sunset. Clouds drifted lazily in the distance, the sky was a million different hues of pink, red and orange. Trent looked down at his feet, at the millions of grains of sand upon that beach and began to cry.
‘Don’t let her die,’ he whispered, almost a murmur beneath the sound of the waves, ‘if you exist then don’t let her die.’
Three weeks later Trent watched his mother’s coffin laid into the earth. The priest began to recite the Lord’s Prayer. Silently weeping, Trent raised his fingers to his ears and walked away.

Jay stared at his hand, he had been staring at it for the past three hours, and it was still telling him the same thing. They’re out to get you. He blinked. The hand winked at him. Perhaps it was just a joke, a bad pun invented by his hand. Why would I do that? Of course, after all it was his hand, why would it conspire against its owner? But they are out to get you, you know that right, all of them, they are all out to get you, get you, get you, all of them. Jay blinked again. All out to get you.
The next day Jay was walking to the shops, his body felt broken, and his brain non-existent. He had vowed never to do a nine day ice binge ever again but, then again, he had vowed the same thing the month before, and the month before that, and the month before that, etcetera, etcetera. A police car drove passed and while the occupants were paying him no attention whatsoever Jay still heard a whispering that told him otherwise. They’re out to get you.

I inhaled the cigarette and let the nicotine flood through my system; relaxing a little I lowered my hand and stared as the tendrils of dirty grey twisted themselves around my fingers before lifting and continuing their obscure dance in mid-air.
I wiped away the tears from my eyes with the other hand and tried to stifle the sobs that were wracking me, succeeding somewhat I took a deep breath. I knew that I shouldn’t have drunk; it always makes me like this, melancholy, depressed, and sad. I looked up and stared at the stars and began to feel so insignificant, it was all so large and I, I was so small compared to everything. A few people stumbled out from the party and onto the balcony that I was currently sitting on. I stood up and went to walk inside.
‘Hey man, are you okay?’ Some person asked.
‘Yeah, I’m fine; I just need to be alone.’
‘You sure?’
‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m cool.’ I said, feeling completely otherwise. I walked inside and then from room to room trying to find somewhere unoccupied, somewhere to be alone, but there were people everywhere. Resigning myself to the only choice I walked outside and sat in my car, smoking another cigarette. Hey man, are you okay? The random persons concern drifted back to me. Yeah, completely fine…right?

Interlude 1 : It’s okay, no-one is listening anyway

So that was we. My friends and I. Far from perfect I know, but everyone has their issues, right? I think misery tends to attract more misery, as the adage goes, misery loves company so although the five of us becoming friends was unlikely it still did occur. I met Trent first as he was in some of my classes in the first year of uni, I think we hit it off because of our seemingly common views on religion. From there he introduced me to Wade, a friend of his. I look back at those early days and wonder how three closed off individuals managed to overcome their introverted nature and seek others, perhaps because we were all similar? Perhaps I just think too much.
Anyway, we were friends for better or worse and in the third year of uni (arts students all of us) we eventually started to (ab)use drugs, slowly at first, mostly at raves, but then every other weekend or house party, the reasons to use were more than the reasons not to. It was at one of these house parties that we met Jay and he first became our dealer and then friend. About a year later he started dating Amber, which didn’t last long, but she stayed to hang out with the rest of us and then we were five.
Three years of using. I look at back now and wonder when people say that the year flew by if they really understand this. For those three years didn’t just fly by, they vanished, not that I regret it, not at all. My friends are worth more to me than anything else. We did more than just drugs together; we’d hang out, go to movies, drink, and watch television, whatever. We were and are close but, things change, people change, everything changes eventually, I think that was our problem, we seemed to all be stuck in a rut and we didn’t know why, I’m not even sure if the others recognized it for what it was, or perhaps I just think too much. One day changed everything though, then again that is usually the nature of change in our experience, it’s sudden and doesn’t let you come to terms with it straight away. That day changed who we were, our beliefs, our opinions, our very lives.
That day started off like any other for me it was Saturday and I had just woken up in the early afternoon after working all night stacking shelves at the supermarket. Not the dream job I envisioned having when I was younger but, I have to support my way through school somehow. I remember upon awakening that I had had a most interesting dream, but before I could manage to grasp what it meant it slipped through my dozing mind and into eternity. One thing it left me though was a feeling of dread and a building sensation of change about to occur. I shrugged it off however, showered and dressed then headed over to Wade’s house, our usual base of operations, to commence the weekend in earnest.

Chapter 2: Anyone know where we can get some acid?

‘So,’ I asked, ‘anything on tonight?’
‘Nothing, nada, zip,’ said Wade pacing back and forth. Even though the day was hot we still wore a long sleeve shirt to hide the scars on his wrists, he didn’t like anyone looking at them. He turned and rubbed his hand through his short, spiky peroxided hair. ‘You hungry?’ he asked.
I looked at his with mock seriousness and said. ‘Dude, it’s the weekend… When the fuck, do we, ever eat on weekends… Of course I’m not hungry.’ I had trained my body well, it never felt the need to have any dietary or nutritional value on the weekend and during the week it made up for it, all the others were the same and it left us all with a thin look, except for Jay whom was skeletal.
‘So what do you wanna do?’ he ventured.
I gave it little thought. ‘Acid.’
‘You serious?’
‘For sure man, check that sun out, it’s a beautiful day, it’s wasted without acid, do you know where we can get any?’
‘Well, there is a friend of Jay’s who may know-‘
‘Wait,’ I interrupted, ‘usually when we do this whole friend of a friend of a friend thing we end up with nothing.’
‘So?’
‘Get the others over and we’ll ask them, surely someone knows where we can get some?’
Three hours later we sat in a circle around Wade’s living room discussing possibilities of sourcing our needs.
‘How about Ken?’ Amber asked, flicking long black hair back over her shoulder. It’d be so much easier if she tied it up but, she like it out and always wore it that way.
‘Not dealing anymore,’ said Jay, polishing his glasses on his t-shirt, ‘do you know anybody Trent?’
‘Perhaps,’ he said taking off his trench coat (black like everything else he wore), ‘how about that guy we met the other week at Earthcore?’
I tried to remember who he was talking about but, as Earthcore was over a month ago my memory had grown a little hazy and to be honest the entire weekend was nearly forgotten by Monday, that was the amount that I had punished my brain there and I least of all compared to the others. I had a vague recollection of some hippy dude stumbling into the campsite however and asking for we had any mix. We gave it to him gladly and-
‘His name was Sandy,’ I said upon remembering. ‘He gave his number to you Wade, see if it’s still in your phone, he did say to call him if we ever wanted anything a bit more mind opening.’
‘Oh that’s right, I remember now… kind of. Where’s my phone though?’ he asked.
‘Over there,’ I pointed without looking.
‘Oh yeah, hang on…yeah here’s the number here, save under hippy sandy dude. Any of you guys got any credit?’
‘Just use the house phone man, this is important after all,’ said Wade.
Trent picked up the phone and got a welcome reception, Sandy was more than happy to help us out he said and even offered to come around to drop it off as it turned out he lived no more than ten minutes away. As the others waited I strolled to the kitchen to get a glass of water, probably the only thing I’d be able to stomach by the end of the weekend. As I was drinking the second glass Amber walked in. I kept my eyes focused on hers as she loved the attention that her beauty drew and I didn’t want to show my interest.
‘Hey you, how have you been?’ she asked.
‘What since last week, the same as every week I guess, all right. What about yourself? Still seeing what’s-his-face?’ I pretended to be uninterested in her answer.
‘What, Jeremy? No.’
‘I think you get too bored too quickly Amber, when’s the last time you had a steady boyfriend for more than two weeks?’
‘Why are you asking me this? I don’t see you with anybody.’ She leant forward, her tone hostile, she was breath taking.
‘No,’ I said. ‘You don’t.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean anyway?’ she asked.
‘Nothing, don’t worry about it, I don’t want to talk about it.’ I said and drained the rest of my water. Jay walked into the kitchen, his eyes roamed freely over Amber as they always did, she pretended not to notice, and I pretended not to care. It wasn’t my business anyway; even if he still did care for her it was ridiculous. They saw each other for three weeks, Jay didn’t get over it, and she did, more than did. When she wasn’t around Jay would talk about her constantly but never admitting that he still wanted her, even though it was obvious.
‘Are you sure it was wise inviting a guy we’ve met once over?’ he asked.
‘What do you mean?’ I asked, knowing the answer but also knowing that not responding could possibly be worse.
‘Well he could be a cop like drug squad or something, he could-‘
‘Paranoia,’ Amber whispered.
‘What did you say,’ Jay yelled, slamming his fist down on the bench.
‘Nothing,’ Amber replied walking off.
‘Hey man,’ I interceded, ‘don’t worry about him, you saw him at Earthcore, right? He was just as fucked up as everyone there; I really don’t think we have anything to worry about.’
‘Yeah but just handing out his number like that, there’s no way that I would-‘
‘I know.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Nothing man, look, I’m sure this dude’s cool, just chill alright, at least we’re getting the acid.’
‘Whatever,’ was his response and he left the kitchen also.
I sighed and poured myself another glass of water. It hadn’t always been like this between our group, but I guess like everything things tend to fall apart and our group was no exception. Wade, Trent and I were as close as we’d ever been but, lately the friction between Amber and Jay and been pouring out into the rest of us and I could feel the climax of the situation coming shortly.
‘What was that about?’ asked Wade, strolling along in his usual manner that reminded me constantly of a marionette.
‘The usual B.S that goes on with those two man, you know how it is.’
‘Yeah I guess.’ Wade rubbed his forearms, right were the scars were.
‘He should just get over her, it’s about time.’
‘It’s harder than that man, sometimes people just cannot let go, I…’ he paused and looked down, his eyes blinking rapidly. ‘Sometimes love; no matter how distant is all we have to hold onto.’
‘Even if it’s unrequited?’ I asked. Wade raised his head and smiled a rare thing that transformed him, and shook his head. ‘I thought so,’ I added.
‘How long does it fucking take to get a glass of water dude?’ asked Trent, walking in from the living room.
‘Well,’ I said, ‘if people would stop interrupting me I would have been back with yours by now.’
‘Yeah right,’ he said, shoving me out of the way, ‘forget it, I’ll get my fucking own.’
‘God helps those who help themselves,’ I quipped.
‘God can suck my hairy right nut.’ Trent added. I laughed even though the response was predictable.
‘Wait a minute,’ said Wade, ‘you mean only your right nut is hairy, what about the left, do you shave your sac half-half or something?’ There was a knock at the door.
‘Wade, seriously, go eat a shit.’
‘I’d take your advice, but last time I tried to bite you…’
I shook my head, left them to their friendly bickering, it was only fun after all, and went to answer the door. Upon opening I found that my memory was truly hazy, I had thought the hippy to be young, not much older than the rest of us, perhaps late 20’s or so. I was wrong. The man standing before me had the look of someone nearly 50. He had long grey hair tied back in a ponytail; even so it still reached down to his waist. He wore faded denim pants and no shirt.
‘Hey Sandy, how’s it going dude?’ I asked holding out my hand.
Sandy went one better and drew me into a tight hug. ‘Thanks little life-saver, that weed you gave me up at that doof was exactly what I needed.’
I disentangled myself, ‘that’s alright man, anytime, don’t just stand there, come in.’ I lead him to the living room and offered him a seat that he rejected.
‘Sorry dude but, I’m in a bit of a hurry.’
‘Oh okay then, well you remember Amber and Jay right? Trent and Wade are in the kitchen. How you been?’
‘No time for even small talk man, places to be, places to see, drugs to eat, I was already running late to this doof on this weekend. What can I help you with?’
‘Acid?’
‘Can’t help you there sorry, ate my last tabs a couple of hours ago, I’m tripping balls but, if you’re feeling game I have something new, something… experimental.’
‘What is it?’ I asked, followed by Amber and Jay with the same question.
Sandy looked at us all and was quiet for a bit, he closed his eyes and mumbled under his breath. In this time Trent and Wade walked back in and stood without words in the background. Then he spoke. ‘I like to call it Maze.’
Interlude 2 : It’s okay, it’s all okay

If I had known then about the burden that I alone would carry then would I have made the same choices that lead up to the current situation? It’s still too early to tell I think, perhaps it was inevitable, perhaps I had no choice, perhaps none of us had any…
I cannot belief that though, those feelings I had before it all occurred, the feelings of dream and of something momentous about to occur, and what if I had paid more heed to them? What if I had never suggested getting acid, would someone else have? I’d like to think, it helps to think that the current situation is not my fault. I could blame Sandy, after all, he did not really offer an explanation, well a proper one, of what the drug would exactly do to us.
I guess blame is useless now anyway.
I guess anything is useless now as I am alone with nothing but my thoughts to keep me company. I make it sound worse than it actually is though and maybe there was a way out and I just haven’t seen it yet, or maybe I missed it, I’ll continue my tale and perhaps the sound of my voice echoing in this empty place will trigger something, anything.
I just wish I had asked more questions before hand, none of us did though. We were too arrogant in our (ab)using to do so, after all they (drugs) had not done any harm that we could see, why would they start to now? I guess the situation was inevitable, as the people we were would not have allowed it to occur any other way but the choices during? I cannot say, not yet. No more interruptions for a while, this needs to be told.

Chapter 3 : Labyrinth

‘Never heard of it,’ said Jay, he looked at the rest of us in turn and we all shook our heads. ‘You having us on or something?’
Sandy shook his head, ‘I told you it was experimental kid.’
‘So, what does it do?’ I asked. ‘Is it like acid, I was looking forward to having some hallucinogens today.’
‘It’s more visual than anything else, and it will bring those that have it together much more than acid ever can,’ Sandy replied, a slight grin on his face.
‘Cool,’ I said, echoed by Trent and Wade. We had had acid together on several occasions and each time seemed to be better than the last, we were always on the same level no matter what drug we took but with acid we understood new depths of one another each time. Amber sometimes was on the same level, but only when Jay wasn’t joining us in the trip. ‘How much?’ I asked.
‘For you little dudes, nothing. You really helped me out the other week. Here, put it on your tongue and let it dissolve, much like acid. I’ve got to go, here,’ he said, throwing a baggie in my direction.
I caught it, ‘how many do we have?’
‘As many as you want, one or one hundred, the outcome is always the same with it, enjoy.’ Sandy stood and walked outside; I walked him to the door. ‘Oh, one more thing,’ he said, looking me directly in the eye, ‘watch out for the minotaur.’ He walked down to his car and drove off; swerving slightly to avoid something he alone was seeing. I walked back into the lounge room and sat down; the others looked expectantly at me.
‘Let’s do it.’ I said.
‘No, it could be anything, even poison, we don’t know that guy for shit,’ Jay said.
‘He seemed alright,’ ventured Wade, ‘and seriously, why would he have us on, we’ve got it, so we might as well try it.’ Trent nodded agreement, so did Amber.
‘Fine, but I’m having my one last.’
‘Whatever man,’ I said, ‘But let’s go to the shops first so I can buy some cigarettes, who knows if we’ll be able to drive on this.’
‘I’ll drive,’ said Trent. ‘Has anyone seen my keys?’
‘On the table next to the door,’ I said. Trent went and looked and came back, keys in hand.
‘How do you do that?’ He asked.
‘Do what?’
‘Know where everything is, you do it all the time, do you keep track?’
I thought about it a bit. ‘No,’ I finally replied. ‘I’m just good at finding things.’ Trent and I walked outside to his car; footsteps came behind us, hurried.
‘Shotgun,’ yelled Amber.
‘Bitch,’ I said.
‘Oh, too slow,’ teased Trent. We went to the shops and I bought two decks of cigarettes, just in case we weren’t able to go anywhere for a while. We returned and walked briskly inside, eager to try maze.

We sat in a circle once more; I placed the small tablet into my mouth and was surprised to find it fizzed, much like a Berocca. The others followed suit except for Jay who was looking hesitantly at his.
‘Come on,’ I said, voice muffled through a mouth full of bubbles.
Jay turned the tabled over a few times between his thumb and forefinger before shrugging and throwing it into his mouth. ‘Fizzy,’ was his only comment.
After about five minutes the tablet and dissolved completely and I waited for something to happen. I cursed that I had not asked more questions of Sandy to find out how long we could expect to wait and how long it would last for, but it was too late now anyway.
‘-‘I said. I turned over what had just happened in my mind. I couldn’t move. I tried once more to open my mouth. Nothing. My arms began to feel heavier; my head slumped to one side, resting precariously on a shoulder before losing balance and falling down to my chest. That fucker, I thought, what is going on? I focused on my hands, slowly, ever so slowly; the skin began to trickle off into air, almost as if the very breeze was blowing me away, molecule by molecule. The effect however was not contained to my hand; the rest of my body was slowly drifting off and fading away.
I looked up, all the others were looking at themselves the same way I must have been mere seconds ago. All of them with the exception of Amber, her eyes locked onto mine, I tried to smile, but to no avail, there was no movement to be had. I settled for an eye roll instead and looked back down. I was surprised to find more of my body had gone, and the rest was following suit. Usually with hallucinogens you would have to stay focused on something for it to keep happening.
Skin vanished, as did muscle. Soon only bones were left and they vanished too. My eyelids (even though I was sure they had vanished too) began to grow increasingly heavy and although I tried to keep them open it was too much, I closed them and awoke…

I was standing on the top of a large staircase. Above me, millions of stars blossomed into life. I looked downwards, the staircase stretched for an eternity, almost never ending. But at the bottom was a giant labyrinth, its twisting corridors spiralling across many kilometres. I looked over the edge of the stairwell, there was nothing below but more stars, the maze stood on nothing, it was the only thing that existed within this place, wherever it was. Behind me was a large wooden door, it stood there without hinges or frames, it stood in midair. Sandy was right, this was more visual than acid. On the door was a silver plaque, I looked at my own image within it and laughed. Maze… an apt name for this drug. I turned my attention once more down to the sprawling thing beneath me and searched for the exit, there was none that I could see, but the other side was obscured by a mirrored dome that stood within the centre. That must be the goal.
The stars faded and darkness ruled. Nothing was visible. Then as suddenly as they were gone they returned and with the returning light Amber, Wade and Trent appeared in front of me.
‘Whoa,’ I said, ‘this is some fucked up shit.’




Chapter 4: Twists and Turns

The apparitions solidified before my eyes, Trent turned to me, his dark clothing blending in with the lack of scenery behind him, making him appear to be a disembodied head floating in midair. This was definitely some strong stuff that I’d had, all the visuals that were occurring were far beyond anything I had felt before, I could even nearly convince myself that my body was getting a little colder from standing within this void.
‘What are you guys doing in my trip?’ Trent asked.
‘Your trip-,’ I started.
‘I thought-,’ began Amber.
‘…’ Wade looked at us all a little bewildered.
The stars disappeared once more and vision faded to be replaced a moment later by Jay, he looked around and stopped at the sight of us standing together. ‘I don’t think this was a good idea,’ he said.
‘This must be one of those collective trips,’ I suggested. ‘You know where everyone is seeing the same thing; at least I think we’re seeing the same things?’
‘Big maze? Lots of stars, also a lot of nothing?’ asked Trent.
‘Yeah,’ added the others.
This was the first time I had experienced such a thing, a collective trip where everyone was visualizing the same thing, no wonder Sandy had said it would bring people together more than acid ever could. I scratched my head and reached into my pockets for a cigarette. I hadn’t really thought about them being there or not, I just remembered where they were before the trip started. Still I was a little surprised when my hand did close around the packet, I brought it out and offered them to the others before taking one for myself and lighting it.
‘Why are you smoking?’ asked Jay. ‘If this is a trip there is no point.’
In answer to his question I merely drew back again and breathed the smoked into his face. He closed his watering eyes and coughed.
‘If this is just a trip, then how come you coughed?’ I countered. ‘This trip is as real as anything I have experienced before, I can feel the smoke filling my lungs and if I hold the cigarette close to my skin I can feel it begin to burn. Whatever it was that we took it has taken us to a level where our minds are convinced that everything that happening around us is real and fools our bodies into thinking likewise.’
‘Are you sure it’s not real?’ asked Amber, her eyes slightly downcast. ‘If something feels this real then how can it be anything but?’
‘Because it’s only a drug Amber,’ said Jay. ‘It’s only a fucking drug making us think this is all real, how could it be real?’
‘I don’t know, it just feels that way, doesn’t it?’
Wade and Trent both nodded, Jay scowled at them. I didn’t move my head, what she said made sense, but at the same time it was too impractical to be considered. I looked upwards at the stars; they seemed fake, too bright in this hopeless void.
‘How long does this last?’ Jay asked. ‘How long can we expect to be in this place because it’s kind of freaking me out a little, it’s too real…’
‘Sandy didn’t say. Although I don’t think that this is time based, I think we have to get out.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Jay rubbed his forehead.
‘I think we have to get to the centre of this maze, after all why call it that unless it’s the purpose. Look at it, that sprawling mass of corridors down there is what this drug obviously does, it creates a maze, and you have to get through it.’
‘Did Sandy tell you that?’ Trent asked flicking his cigarette over into the void and watching it spiral down until the spark disappeared.
‘It makes sense though.’ Amber backed me up. ‘Think about it, why call it maze unless that’s what you do. So let’s do it, let’s go into the maze.’
‘I think we should stay here,’ said Jay. ‘It’ll wear off eventually.’
I took the first step of many down to the labyrinth, Trent, Wade and Amber started to follow me. Jay stood where he was, looking resolved that nothing would move him until the drug wore off. I turned around and looked him in the eye.
‘The decision is up to you man, you can stay and wait till it wears off if you want, but I intend to make the most of this experience as I’m guessing the others do as well. You should come with us; it’d suck staying here by yourself.’
Jay looked down at his feet and took off his glasses, he gave them a clean, that was something he always did while he was thinking. After a few minutes he put them back on. ‘Let’s go,’ he said.

I lead the way down the stairs with Trent following behind, then Wade, Amber and finally Jay. There was a handrail of darkened wood containing the stairs; I had to overcome the urge to slide down it to reach the bottom. Above stars beamed the false lights down, it wasn’t possible that they were what enabled us the light to see, but whenever they had faded sight had also so even though is wasn’t possible it was the case, I kept it in mind. It wasn’t cold or warm; the air had a stagnant feel to it, as though it had sat in place for far longer than we would ever conceive. We stopped every now and again to catch our breath and I wondered why this was so, surely if this wasn’t real then we wouldn’t need to do such actions, maybe it had so much influence on our minds that it was next to real as something could be without actually being real? I worried also that we were in fact walking in our sleeping states, and that one of us could be hit by a car as we unknowingly crossed a street. After about an hour of continuing down the stairs however I gave such notions up, if it would have happened then it surely would have occurred by now.
‘How much longer do these stairs go for?’ asked Wade, ‘I don’t like being on them, it feels like they could collapse at any moment, what’s holding them up anyway?’
‘We’re about halfway,’ I estimated, ‘about another hour.’
‘I don’t like those stars either,’ he added, ‘the light reminds me…’
‘Reminds you of what?’ asked Trent, trying to draw out the rest.
‘Never mind, let’s keep walking.’
We resumed the monotonous pace down the stairs, as we drew closer to the entrance the maze grew until it flooded our vision, it encompassed left and right. Like the stairs it was standing on naught bar void. The passages went in all directions and I could see many dead ends, unfortunately we were too far down now to see the entire thing and I regretted not mapping a way before we descended. The dome in the centre grew clearer and off its mirrored surface I could see echoes of stars contained within its depths. This place was truly unique, and I wondered how long it would take to either find our way through or for the drug to wear off, I looked at my watch to find that almost three hours had passed since I had place the tablet within my mouth. This was the most interesting drug experience I had had to date.
Finally we arrived at the bottom; a grand archway covered in vines greeted us. A silver plaque, much akin to that back on the strange door was visible at the top of the archway. Through the arch the maze was visible; its walls were made of large grey stone blocks. The surface of the blocks, pitted with age, creepers and weeds grew from the mortar between. The walls were high, so high that even if I had stood on somebody else’s shoulders I could not have reached the top with my hands outstretched. The effect was overwhelming.
‘Read that,’ said Amber, ‘pointing at the plaque.’
I looked back up at it and squinted to read the scrawled writing upon it. It read:
“Walk within, if you do dare, but leave behind burdens and care.
For they will serve to hold you back, to make it through you must have lack
Of memories and thoughts untrue, so if you are empty, go on through.
Though if you can’t obtain the state, and going in you still debate,
Then just go forth and try to see, whereabouts inside will lie the key.”
‘Cryptic,’ I said, ‘anyone have any idea what the fuck it means?’ They answered by a collection of shaking heads. ‘I thought as much… Should we go through anyway?’
‘No,’ said Jay. ‘We should just wait here, we have no idea what is in there, and it could be that we’ll be lost forever in that horrid place.’
‘Better that than waiting here forever,’ said Wade.
‘I disagree,’ said Trent. ‘Jay has a point; we should just wait till it wears off, after all it can’t take anymore than a day at the most? This may sound a bit hypocritical coming from me, but that place feels unholy.’
We all turned to Amber. She looked at us all one by one, meeting our eyes and seemingly trying to read what lay within. She met mine last and instead of me looking away as the others had she finally looked down.
‘We should go in,’ was all she said.
‘No, we’ll stay unless it’s unanimous,’ I said, I don’t know why, but it felt wrong to drag unwilling people in behind us. Especially after reading the inscription that lay upon the plaque.
‘Okay then, well I guess I’m in also,’ agreed Trent.
‘I’m not going to be a kill-joy either,’ said Wade.

We walked beneath the archway, the walls of the maze loomed over us and I felt small, oh so very small. I lit up another cigarette, nicotine at times like this were very relaxing, soothing. As Jay, last as before, walked beneath the arch a groaning sound filled the area. Dust fell from overhead, followed by flakes of mortar and chips of stone.
‘Look out,’ I yelled, pushing past the others and grabbing Jay by the front of his t-shirt I hauled him forwards. The archway collapsed where he had been standing. Perhaps collapse isn’t exactly the correct term though; the middle block on which the plaque was fell first, sending up a curtain of dust. Then the next blocks fell to land perfectly beside it. Piece by piece it fell, each block landing precisely to fit in with the previous, a section of wall followed the arch and the entry was blocked not by rubble but by a wall, perfectly formed as if built by hand.
‘I told you this was a bad idea,’ moaned Jay.
I wiped the dust off myself and tried to contain the anger I felt at his ungratefulness. I decided though anger was unwarranted, this was just a trip, a realistic one, but a trip nonetheless. Nothing could hurt us here. My eyes slid passed Jay and I looked at the plaque block, there was another on this side, it read:
“Remember that everyone has an exit. Remember that the only thing holding you back is yourself. Remember that beginnings are important, and most importantly, remember to be wary.”
‘Well I guess we have no choice now do we?’ I asked. The passage we were in stretched for about twenty metres before splitting into left and right passages. It seemed that decisions would have to be made soon. Although I didn’t really want the responsibility I took the lead and lead our party forward.
‘Isn’t there a trick to mazes,’ asked Trent. ‘You know, always follow a wall and it will eventually lead you out.’
‘I don’t think that would apply here,’ said Amber.
‘Why not?’
‘Because this place doesn’t seem to be held together by a reality we know, I mean we just walked down stairs that were held up by nothing. Why should the maze follow patterns that we would expect, for all we know we could turn the corner up ahead and find ourselves back where we started.’
Jay scoffed, ‘that’s just stupid.’
‘I don’t hear you venturing forth with any bright ideas, all you’ve done so far is complain.’
I stopped and Wade bumped into me. ‘Look,’ I said, ‘we’re all in this together and for now I suggest we try Trent’s idea, after all we’ll know soon enough if it doesn’t work and it sounds better than wandering around aimlessly.’
And so we walked. At the first junction we took the left turn, at the next the left, then left again. The passage wouldn’t run in a straight line, we would turn a corner to find the passage doubling back upon itself and running back the direction we had come before turning once again. Judging by the size of this place it could take hours before we were standing at the centre. I always remained in the lead, although it wasn’t necessary, anyone could’ve followed the plan we had set out. The others would change position occasionally behind me. I would look at my watch occasionally to no avail, the hands were frozen, both pointing at twelve.
Taking the seventh turn we found ourselves at the first dead-end. An inscription was writ upon it however, a single word, “Remember.” We looked at it for a bit before turning and taking the right turn. I was puzzled as to the word and was reminded of the inscription on the collapsed archway, the maze was giving us clues I was sure of it, it’s just that they were not helpful in any way as of yet, it just seemed to be constantly reminding us to remember. I wondered, and nor for the first time, what would happen if one of us were to be hurt in here, I had a scary feeling that the wounds would not be contained in this reality and if we happened to find our way out, the wounds would travel with us. I didn’t let on to my companions about such thoughts, as they seemed worried enough as it was, especially Jay.
The passageways continued and we followed, taking the left hand turn every time, if we encountered a dead-end then we would turn around and take the right. If we encountered another dead-end then we would turn around and retrace our steps, always following the left sidewall. With each dead-end we encountered it became more and more apparent that we needed to keep track, as with the first, all of them had the inscription “Remember” upon them.
After walking for what seemed to be hours we rounded a corner and found ourselves facing a door. It was set in a wall, the door made of ancient wood, and a large steel knocker was featured about head height on it.
‘I suppose we should knock,’ said Trent, doing so as he spoke the words. Three times he knocked, and at first nothing happened. Then the knocking echoed back, reverberating through the stone passageways of the maze. It subsided to come back louder, the maze shook harder.
‘What’s going on?’ Screamed Jay, trying to heard above the din. More echoes, louder again and we all placed our hands over our ears, trying to block out the murderous sound.
Echoes, like standing next to an amp turned to full.
Echoes, like standing on the very source of thunder.
Echoes, and more echoes.
And then… they stopped and the stars above our heads disappeared once more.
‘Now what?’ asked Wade.
In the darkness, above us within the void, the universe exploded.

Chapter 5: Skies of fire and visions of green

Fire lit up the sky. It burned the darkness, evaporating it, and the maze lightened with it. The void was replaced with an intense flame; occasionally a streak of white flame would appear within and left an after-glow in my vision. The door in front of us opened and from it vines sprouted, they traced their way around the brickwork, growing and weaving until the maze teemed with life. The vines sprouted flowers, bright and colourful, reds, blues, violets and others filled the passageways. Underneath our feet pavers cracked and gave birth to lush grass, growing quickly till it stood ankle height. The fire above dulled and faded away leaving a brilliant blue sky, spotted with clouds.
‘Well,’ I said, ‘that was certainly unexpected.’
‘It’s a lot better than what it was before,’ replied Amber. ‘This place is beautiful now.’
‘I don’t like it,’ said Jay. ‘It’s alive now, can’t you see that, it’s beginning to awaken for some reason.’
‘What do you mean?’ Trent enquired.
‘I don’t know. I just know that I don’t like it at all.’
‘Lighten up,’ said Wade, ‘at least it isn’t as gloomy as before, this is actually starting to be a bit of fun, I mean look at this experience we’re having, how many people can say they’ve had this.’
‘No-one,’ was my reply. ‘But then again, no-one will believe us when we get back, no matter who we tell; it’s like trying to explain acid to someone who has never had it before. They just wouldn’t understand no matter how much we elaborate and try to make them understand… they just won’t get it until they try it for themselves.’
‘I wouldn’t give this to anyone,’ said Jay, head down. ‘I still don’t like it, no matter what you all think, after all we’re still stuck in here, how long has it been now? At least five hours or so by my reckoning, and it doesn’t feel as if it’s about to wear off anytime soon, it feels as if it’s just getting stronger.’
‘Can’t you handle it?’ Amber teased.
‘Of course I can, better than any of you, I’m just more cautious, that’s all.’
‘Whatever, be paranoid some other time Jay, can’t you just enjoy something for once without looking on the bad side?’
Jay looked at Amber at then back at his feet, I began to feel uncomfortable, but that was nothing unusual when these two began their fighting, which was happening more often as of late.
‘We still have a lot of ground to cover,’ I said, hoping to stem the argument before it got out of control. ‘I’m not sure if we should keep following the left wall either.’
‘Why not?’ asked Trent. ‘It’s worked for us so far. Why stop now.’
‘You saw the size of this place Trent, it’s huge, if we keep at it this way it’ll take us ages to reach the centre.’
‘Are you even sure that’s our goal,’ said Wade.
‘Of course it is, you always walk through the centre of mazes on the way out, or in some you have to get to the centre and then leave via the way you came in. Regardless, I still think that is our destination. Agreed?’
They all nodded, Jay somewhat reluctantly. We began to walk again, it was not as arduous as it was before, the change within the maze had spread to ourselves and rather than looks of concern smiles were there instead. Amber took off her shoes and walked barefoot, a hand trailing against the wall; occasionally she’d stop and smell a flower. I smiled at her and she beamed back, Jay scowled.
We continued and I began to take turns instinctively, left, right, left, left and another right. We encountered no dead-ends. I tried to remember the way back as we went, the list of turns was getting progressively longer however and my memory was not what it once was due to too many hard weekends. I hoped that we wouldn’t have to come back as the others certainly weren’t keeping track and it would be up to me to try and lead them again. More turns, more twisting passages, there didn’t seem to be an end to it. We turned left and walked straight ahead, rounded a right corner and were confronted with a change of scenery.
Ahead lay a clearing; a fountain was in the centre of it. Mounted on the fountain were two stone seals, and upon their noses stone balls rolled, driven into momentum by water that bubbled from underneath them. Between the seals a large plume of water rose, cascading in all directions before dropping back into the base where the water created ripples that danced. In the four corners of the clearing were large trees, their trunks thrusting upwards towards the sky. They had no limbs though, and their colour was white. At the very tops of them a hint of greenery grew.
At the other side of the clearing lay another door, a plaque was on it, and some writing, it was no readable at this distance however. There was no knocker on this one and I found myself thankful for that fact.
We walked into the clearing, Trent and Wade strode over to one of the trees. Trent laid his hands upon it, his black clothing against it contrasting.
‘It’s not real,’ he said and then laughed. ‘Well you know what I mean, this isn’t a tree… it’s a statue.’
We all gazed upwards; why I thought to myself, why bother to build when it could easily just be real, or as real as something in this place could be. Amber walked over to the fountain, and trailed her hands through the water. She then bent over and with a cusped hand took a long drink.
‘It tastes like strawberries,’ she said smiling. ‘Come have a taste.’
I walked over and place my hand in, the water was neither cool nor warm, it just was, and it slid around my hand like a glove. I took an experimental taste and laughed.
‘Strawberries? Amber I don’t know what you’re talking about, it tastes like, and I know this might sound odd, it tastes like cheesecake.’
‘Cheesecake! What are you on? Hey Trent, Wade, get over here and tell me what this water tastes like.’
They both dipped their hands in and laughed, Wade was actually happy, it was odd to see him smiling so much, and it was good.
‘Sorbet,’ said Trent.
‘Vanilla ice-cream,’ said Wade at the same time. They looked at one another and laughed, Amber and I joined them. Jay merely stood and looked at us all, I beckoned him over.
‘Go on man, give it a try.’
Jay stared me in the eyes for a moment and I looked away, he wasn’t smiling or laughing, he really was worried about this place. He still dipped in his hand though.
‘Water,’ he said after tasting. ‘It just tastes like water, bland, stupid water. Let’s get moving. I’m getting sick of this place.’
‘It doesn’t have to be all bad Jay, why not try to enjoy this as Amber said, after all for all we know that door over there could be the way out.’
‘Somehow I doubt that, let’s just keep moving.’
We all took one last drink and I walked over to the door before the others, I stared at the plaque, the inscription this time was easy to understand although I didn’t understand what my name was doing on the door. I looked at the plaque and my hand strayed forward to touch it, my name dissolved and in its place was more writing, the others wandered over this point and looked at it also.
“You hide behind it, yet cannot see, it is the thing that will set you free.
Yet when it’s lost then you are not, when found remember what you forgot.
But to make this grateful find, then you must be the last behind.”
I finished reading the words, and they disappeared, an empty plaque was all that remained. I looked at the others but they seemed lost in their own thoughts, were they wondering what the meaning behind the plaque was? Or had they worked it out and that’s why they were quiet? I put such unanswerable questions behind and reached forward to open the door. It creaked open; on the other side was another passage, exactly the same as the many ivy and vine filled ones we had passed through already. With a sigh of resolution I stepped through and found myself in a void.
The darkness was complete, there was nothing, I stood on nothing, saw nothing except myself. Panic began to creep within me, but then the others appeared. They looked around and we all huddled sub-consciously closer to one another less we be lost. There was a voice, not distinguishable or understandable, yet a voice all the same. Another joined it, then another. Soon the void was filled with the sound of voice, it was overwhelming, I went to speak but decided there was no way I’d be heard, not above so many people talking.
‘What the fuck is this?’ asked Jay. He had not raised his voice yet it was easily heard; perhaps it had more substance than those that surrounded us.
‘I have no idea,’ they turned to face me, I was thankful for being heard. ‘Perhaps we should just keep walking forward.’
We stumbled forward in a group, I begin to shiver. It was cold in here, too cold. This place was lifeless, and there was no point in screaming, even in uselessness, the void would steal your voice and if it didn’t steal it then the other voices would over-ride it. I began to close my eyes, slowed my steps and just sat down. Amber pulled my arm.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked. ‘Get up, we have to keep going.’
‘I don’t want to,’ I whispered. ‘It’s too much.’
‘What are you talking about, it’s just voices, come on.’
‘No, you go ahead, I’ll just sit here and rest a bit, I’ll be fine, I really will.
Trent and Wade moved in beside me and grabbed hold of an arm each; they pulled me up and dragged me forward, my legs trailed out uselessly behind me. Jay and Amber walked in front, all the while the voices grew louder and I felt myself drifting away. Then there was light and the voices vanished. My thoughts became coherent once more, I shrugged free of Trent and Wade and looked behind me; we had travelled through the door, a step beyond and no more. I sat down and fumbled within my pockets for a cigarette. I lit it and looked up at the others; concern was writ upon their face.
‘Hey man… are you okay?’ asked Trent. ‘What happened back there?’
‘I’m fine.’ I heard myself say. Inhale smoke, breathe out. ‘Totally fine, it was nothing, just felt sleepy all of a sudden.’
‘You sure?’ said Wade, offering me a hand.
I pushed it away and stood on my own, ‘Yeah, of course I’m sure, let’s keep moving.’
The others looked at one another and I walked through them and onwards, not looking back to see if they followed. Amber came up alongside me.
‘Sure you’re okay,’ she asked. ‘You didn’t look okay back there; you looked terrified, what happened?’
I leaned closer so that the others would not hear, ‘I don’t want to talk about it okay, I don’t ask you why you cannot keep a boyfriend do I?’ Her face dropped concern and became a mask. ‘See what I mean Amber, we all have things we know about yet don’t talk about. Wade has his wrists, Trent his faith or lack of, and Jay well… So this is mine okay, just let it go, it’s not important.’
‘I will, but do you even know what happened back there? Do you know why you stopped?’
‘No,’ there was no point in lying to her. ‘I don’t, but I don’t want to think about that place anymore alright, your right it was terrifying… and I have no idea why.’
I looked back; Jay was staring at Amber and me, his gaze filled with suspicion. I ignored him and continued walking, leading the group through the maze. I had no idea how I knew where I was going but each turn just felt right (even the left ones). The sky above was still as beautifully blue as it had been the grass just as green. Perhaps even more so, but I think that may have been just in contrast to the void from which I had barely escaped. I was glad that my friends had been there to help me, if they had not been I would have been lost, to what I don’t know but I got the feeling that I would not have left that place.
I turned a corner and stopped. Ahead was a giant straight, it ran for perhaps five hundred metres. At the end of it, above the walls at the end I could see the dome. Its mirrored surface reflected the clouds as the drifted lazily passed. We were not that far away from it, removing the straight then it was only about 250 metres away. We were nearly there. The others rounded the corner and yelled, Trent slapped me on the back, and Wade did a capering jig on the spot. Jay smiled at me, obviously thankful that the goal was getting nearer and with it perhaps the exit? I didn’t know, but we were closer.
‘Come on,’ I said, ‘we’re nearly there, not that much longer to go.’
With us all in better spirits since the horror of the void we set off, eyes set forward on the dome.

Chapter 6: Traps and Pitfalls

Unfortunately nothing is ever as easy as it seems, that is to say some things are easy yes, but if they seem easy then it will turn out that they are not, follow? After the straight the passage way hooked around to the right and then went straight in a giant arc, we walked it until it had a 180 degree turn, and then arced again, after walking twice the distance as before there was another U-turn. I had an idea and suggested it.
‘It’s going to be like this the whole way isn’t it?’
‘What to you mean?’ Trent asked.
‘Well, it’s going back and forth, back and forth. It’s going to continue this winding until we reach the dome, these passageways are about three metres wide, so we’ll have to do this about eighty times.’ Amber, Jay, Trent and Wade all looked at me, the smiles we had shared earlier at the sight of the dome dropped from their faces.
‘But it’ll get shorter each trip,’ suggested Trent.
‘Yeah it will, but something doesn’t feel right about it, no hurrying, it seems too easy, be wary.’
The passages began to pass us by with monotony; if in fact they were getting shorter with each passing one then I didn’t notice the distance. It was on the thirtieth that there was a change. Halfway down the passage on the floor was a scattered grouping of tiles, standing in the oceans of grass that covered the floor, each with a different insignia on it. They ran the width of the passage and ten metres down it. The insignias were horns, flower, spiral, flame and star. Along the wall were holes, leg height, what they contained were hidden by their darkened interior.
‘Well?’ asked Wade, ‘now what?’
No one answered, we all stood looking at the patterns of tiles before us; one type appeared far more often than any others (in fact it outnumbered them ten to one) it was the horns.
‘Looks like we have to not stand on the horns,’ said Amber.
‘Der,’ added Jay. Amber merely threw him a glance that cut worse than words.
‘I’ll go first,’ I said. The tiles were large and it wasn’t much trouble to jump from one to another, I crossed easily followed by Trent, then Jay, Amber and lastly Wade. We continued our trek through the twisting paths, growing closer and closer to the dome with each turn.
‘Do you think we’re nearly there?’ asked Wade after a while.
‘Maybe, how many turns have we done so far?’ Trent wondered aloud.
‘Fifty-nine, about halfway there guys, at least the distance is getting shorter. It wasn’t noticeable at first.’ I told them.
‘Do you think that when we get there,’ said Amber, ‘to the centre, that will be it? Or will there be more? I have to say this is the most fucked up drug I have ever had.’
‘I’m with you on that,’ Jay said, cleaning his glasses again for the third time this hour.
We rounded the corner into the next passage and stopped, more traps awaited us. Metal bars ran the entire length of the passage, sticking out at seemingly random angles from one wall to the other, the effect was a jungle gym from hell but surely there was more it than just being an obstacle. I reached into my pocket and fished around, drawing forth a spare lighter. I threw it at a bar. Upon contact the vines ripped apart from the wall and grabbed the lighter, we all watched fascinated as it was held in midair. Thorns grew and the lighter cracked, falling into pieces on the floor, the vines retreated back onto the wall.
‘Oh shit.’ I said.
‘I’m not going in there,’ said Jay. ‘Not a chance in hell I’ll step foot in there, can’t you all see, we’ll never get out if we do, we’re fucked.’
‘We have no choice, we’re nearly there, over halfway, don’t you want to get out Jay, I know I do, this place isn’t as friendly as I thought it once was, come on.’ Having finished the sentence I lead the way.
Sweat ran down my back, over halfway, over halfway; I kept the thought running through my head again and again. My limbs were all sore, but I didn’t dare stop for a rest, if I did there was no way that I’d be able to get up and continue. The others pursued doggedly behind me, their faces tense, full of determination. I stepped over a bar, and bent myself forward on a ninety-degree angle so as not to touch the next one.
Duck, weave.
Sweat.
Nearly there, nearly there. Only a few metres to go, I could see the next turn through the myriad of bars the hindered my way forward, lie down and roll under, scissor kick, last bar…trip.
Everything slowed, as it always does it those moments. Someone cried out behind me, the bar grew closer, my back was sweaty and so were my palms. This was it. Would it hurt, was it even real this place? I guess it was going to be answered; I fell closer to the bar and stopped. Someone had grabbed me by the back of my shirt; I was five centimetres away from the bar. I breathed again. I was pulled back to my feet; I turned around and was surprised to find it was Jay.
‘Thanks,’ I said.
‘I owed you one, and we need you to get us out, you know the way somehow. Let’s keep going.’
He stepped over the bar that had nearly claimed me and walked around the corner, Trent and Wade followed. Amber stopped and looked at me. She smiled and punched me in the stomach.
‘What was that for?’ I asked between wheezing breaths.
‘For making me worry. I’m glad you’re okay.’ She then turned the corner as well. I rubbed my hands down my shirt, stepped over the bar and followed them around.
The corridors grew shorter and shorter, each rotation was faster, the greens and colours of flowers in the maze were more vivid, or maybe I just appreciated them more after my close call, I kept count in my head, seventy, eighty, ninety, again a trapped passage.
There was no subtlety with this trap. Fire would belch at regular intervals at seven positions along the passage. The grass and vines were blackened. Smoke oozed through this passage. It wasn’t so much a trap as it was a gauntlet. The flames would start and spew forth one by one, the first would go out as the seventh was lit, the second would then go out, then the third, then the first would light back up again as the fourth went out. It was a case of stay ahead of the flame.
Amber went first she made it through easily. Then Wade. I went next; the flames even though some distance away were still hot enough to draw moisture from my body and dry it out. As I passed the final flame there was a gust of heat behind me, a flame had lit up ahead of its time. We watched. The gap had closed from three spaces to two. Trent and Jay looked at one another then Trent motioned him on. Jay sweated his way through and there was another click .One space gap now.
Trent walked forward as the flame vanished from the first hole, and jumped as the second disappeared. Flames filled the space where he had stood. Jump, wait, jump, wait, we all held our breath, each selfishly thankful that we had not been left till last. It was the pressure he decided afterwards that made him make a mistake. He jumped too early, into the last flame, just as it was dissipating. He screamed, his leather trench coat bubbled with heat; he threw it off to the ground.
His skin blistered on his hands, his hair was smoking. We rushed over.
‘Are you okay?’
‘Dude, are you alright?’
‘Trent…’
He waved us off, taking deep breaths and nursing his hands.
‘It’s real,’ was all he said. ‘It hurts. This place is real. If something happens to us here… I don’t think we’re going to make it out.’
‘We are,’ said Jay, ‘I’m not going to die in here, you guys led me in, I never wanted to come in here, but here I am and damned if I’m going to give up.’
‘No one said anything about giving up, Jay. We’ll all get out, we’re close now.’ I said.
‘How do you know that?’ he said, his mouth contorting into a sneer.
‘I can feel it…’
Interlude 3: It’s dark and cold and no one can hear me

Perhaps I’ve given too much away, but then again I was never much of a story teller, never much of a tell anything. I’m curled into a ball right now, I’m scared and lonely. The courage that I had mustered earlier was fleeting, too fleeting. The tears have started again, burning wet lines down my face. Good. At least they are warm, at least they are life.
Was that a whisper? No, I just torment myself; there is no voice in here but my own. And it is beginning to be a ragged thing, I don’t even know why I throw my voice around, ah yes, the imagined listener, can you hear my tears listener, can you hear the burden of choice? Of course not, you are as unsubstantial as this place.
Perhaps worse than the burden of choice is that of guilt, and I feel that just as heavily. I know I am stalling, but it’s prolonging the inevitable. I can no longer stop this story, it has to be told. It’s just that it begins to get… harder for me to tell from now on.
My friends were important to me.
They all were.
And I would never have placed one above the other.
What occurred was my own fault anyway. The maze had already warned us to be wary. It had shown how dangerous it could be with the corridor of traps, but we dwelled too long on the beauty of the place before that, and it was not until Trent was hurt did we think differently, it was only after that did we start to be concerned for our safety.
And I had forgotten about the Minotaur…

Chapter 7: Dome of the Minotaur

Trent left his trench coat and we continued our monotonous journey towards the dome. We were quiet and I didn’t try to lift the mood as I felt it impossible to do so. It had hit home to all of us the danger that we were in, this place was as real as it seemed, and although that wasn’t real in any tangible sense it seemed that it was still enough to get us killed if we were not careful enough.
All along we should have been prepared for this, after all the maze itself had warned us at the start, be wary, but it seemed like to little a warning, it didn’t do proper justice to the danger of this place.
Corridors passed by, we kept walking. Eventually the dome could be seen over the wall, it’s smooth mirrored surface reflected the blue sky. Shorter and shorter the passageways became and then we rounded the final corner and saw ahead of us a large set of doors, we had made it to the dome.
The doors were made of steel, they stood twice my height. There was no handle on them, but there was a knocker. The knocker was shaped as a bull’s head, a large ring through its nose. It was also made of steel with the exception of the horns which were made of a darker metal, almost black.
I looked at the door, wanting nothing more than to grab the ring and rap it against the door, but at the same time I remembered the last door we crossed and the horror of the void. My reaching hand was stayed.
‘What’s the matter?’ Amber asked.
‘Nothing, I’m just a little hesitant, it could be trapped.’ I answered.
She looked me in the eyes and shook her head a little, a hint of a smile beginning to appear, she knew me too well and knew that I was scared. ‘I don’t think it will be trapped, I think this is it, we’ve reached our destination, we’re done,’ and sating so she pushed me aside and knocked thrice upon the door.
The sky darkened, clouds melted downwards into nothingness. Flowers began to wilt and die, the vines retreated, blackening as they did so. The life that had filled the place was gone, all that was left now was a reminder, and the maze had become a corpse.
I couldn’t resist. ‘Not trapped hey?’ Amber turned to me and shrugged. There was a loud clang and we turned as one to find the ring had dropped from the bull’s nose, a grinding noise followed and the horns slowly pivoted from pointing upwards to downwards.
‘Now what!?’ said Wade.
The doors opened, slowly. They swung outwards; the bull was split in half. A blinding light emitted from the opening, I threw my hands up to block its radiance. So bright it was. I turned my head away and found Wade trembling and staring, staring straight into that terrible light. It faded eventually leaving nothing but the ghost of its image in my vision. We walked forward together into the dome.

I admit that I was surprised that after crossing the threshold we did not disappear and re-enter our reality, obviously the maze was not finished with us yet. The inside of the dome was huge, even larger than it appeared to be from outside. Torches and braziers filled the room their flames playing an intricate game of making our shadows dance. The mirrored surface was no longer present; the outside was visible from here, the sky still grey. In the centre of the room was a dais, in the centre of which was a stone arm rising from the floor. It was stretched towards the sky, in its closed fist was a menacing looking axe, a thing of stone, ancient and crumbling, it was twin bladed, butterfly shaped. In front of the arm was a pedestal with a note on it, its writings not tangible from where we stood. Around the circumference of the room were four more doors, spaced evenly throughout the chamber, on each door hung a plaque.
We walked into the chamber, all silent at first, merely taking in the place. We approached the dais and sat down, still not speaking. I could feel their defeat, we had thought our journey was over, but it looked far from it. I lit a cigarette and lay back letting my feet dangle over the edge. I stared up at the sky watching the smokes tendrils entwine and ascend.
Jay interrupted my perception. ‘We’re not out.’ He said. ‘You thought that this was going to be the end of it, didn’t you? But here we all are stuck here still!’
Amber laid a hand on Jay’s arm, ‘calm down,’ she said, ‘we’ll find a way-‘
‘When?’ Jay grabbed Amber’s hand and shoved her off. ‘When are we going to get out of this fucking maze? Anyone? Because I’m sick of this place, I want to get back, I want to get back.’
Trent and Wade were busy studying their feet, I looked to Amber for help, but she just shook her head. So it’s up to me? Great. ‘Look Jay,’ I started, ‘I’ll find us a way out, I-‘
‘You… You! You’re the one that got us into this in the first place; we should have stayed at the entrance.’
‘That’s great, the entrance? And we’d still be waiting there, Jay. After all this isn’t done until we’re done with it. Do you understand that? The only way we’re getting out of here is to get out. So stop complaining.’ I felt flushed and angry, but it was time someone stood up to Jay and his whining about the predicament we found ourselves in.
‘At least we wouldn’t be in danger…’ he mumbled.
‘We aren’t in danger, Jay. Just as long as we all look out for one another. Like I did for you and you did for me. If we keep our heads together we’ll make it through this, I know we will.’
‘-‘Jay opened his mouth.
Amber interrupted. ‘He’s right, Jay, you know he is. Stop being so angry, let’s just all try to get along. Okay?’
‘Okay.’ He agreed.
We all sat there for a while, each to our own thoughts. The chamber began to grow oppressive; the flames gave off an almost sickly glow. Eventually I stood and walked to a door. I read the plaque, Wade. I rubbed my eyes and made sure that I was reading it right, the name didn’t change.
‘Wade, come over here.’ I said. He walked over, leaving the others sitting on the dais. ‘Take a look at this,’ I said when he was standing beside me.
‘My name, but what’s it doing here?’
‘Remember that inscription in the fountain plaza? The rhyme about being set free, well it had my name on it, just like this. Touch the door, Wade.’
Wade leant forward, arm outstretched. He touched the door, nothing happened.
‘Try touching the plaque.’ I suggested.
‘Why didn’t you say that to begin with?’
‘I assumed you would know.’
‘Well I didn’t,’ he said.
‘Well you do now, stop stalling touch the plaque.’
His arm trembled, but still stretched forward almost on its own accord to touch the plaque. He touched it and it grew bright, his name however grew darker. The others made sounds of astonishment and began to stand. The plaque began to swirl and then the writing changed.
“Pay attention as behind this door, are things you chose to ignore
by picking up the kitchen knife and using it to end you life.
Be attentive, strong, you’ll be alright, and don’t you worry about the light…”
Wade turned to look at me, his mouth hung open and he was absently rubbing the scars upon his wrist. The door creaked open, and a car horn blared through it, Wade shuddered at the sound. The door opened to its full extent and Wade vanished, I looked around for him, he was nowhere. I turned and the others were running towards the door, but in slow motion. Every few seconds they would move a fraction, a barely perceptible amount. I turned back to the door, what was going on?

BLINK.

Wade stood beside me, his face ashen. His long sleeve shirt was torn and covered in blood. He looked at me; his eyes were filled with tears. I looked away unable to hold the gaze of such sorrow, I noticed a door behind me, it had no plaque, no handle, no knocker, it seemed there was no way through it. I turned back to Wade.
‘Are you okay man, what’s going on?’ I asked, trying to ignore all the blood. He opened his mouth and shut it again; he closed his eyes and merely pointed forward. I looked and shuddered. Ahead of us in the corridor that we stood there was blood, so much blood. It ran down the walls and pooled onto the floor. It dripped from the ceiling splashing down.
I looked down; my feet were covered in the inky red that stained the rest of the corridor. I gagged and vomited, I couldn’t help it. After composing myself I looked back at Wade, he still stood with his eyes closed; his arms wrapped around one another, each hand rubbing at the scars. I noticed then that his hands were turning red.
‘Wade, roll up your sleeves.’ He opened his eyes and looked at me. ‘Wade,’ I repeated, ‘roll up your sleeves.’ With a sigh he did so, blood poured from his wrists. How can someone lose that much blood? I gazed again upon the corridor. ‘It doesn’t hurt does it?’ I asked. ‘Your wrists, it’s not real I think, Wade.’
‘Not real?’
‘Yeah, I mean I think this maze knows what we fear and projects it out.’
‘How would you know that, that hasn’t happened, has it?’
I thought of the void and didn’t say anything, I was unable to share my fear of that place, and the complete lack of feeling that was associated with it. I tried to change the topic. ‘We should walk; this was your door, Wade. Yours. If there is anything to see through it, we won’t see it standing here. Agreed?’
‘Yeah I guess, but I have to tell you… I’m scared, that door hinted at things that I don’t think I can face.’
‘I’ll be here for you man, let’s go.’
I looked down as I took that first step, unable to stop myself, my foot lifted, blood dripping from it and creating ripples on the flood of it within the corridor. And when put down it sent out miniature waves of red. I looked forward after that. I would let my eyes slide around to Wade sometimes to see if he was okay, but he kept his eyes fixed ahead, his face grim and ashen.
We wandered through that corridor of red; there was no deviation, no corners, it lay on a straight course, one filled with blood. I let my mind detach and think freely. I thought of the void and how I was unable to deal with that place, how terrible it had been for me, perhaps Wade was suffering the same as I once did? Perhaps he was doing better than me. I thought upon the maze and how twisted it truly was, but leave behind burdens and care, or was it our mistake to enter it so freely. I guess warnings were there to be heeded, if they weren’t they were just pointless things, writings upon the winds of time.
The scenery up ahead changed, the corridor stopped and another door was present. We walked until we were within metres of it, then Wade turned to me.
‘I don’t think I can go through, it’s going to be worse than this, I know it is.’
‘You’re right, it will be worse,’ I said, ‘but it’s the way out.’
‘How can you know that?’ His voice slightly rose. ‘I hate this place. I hate it. Are you sure the exit will be beyond?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then let’s go.’
Chapter 8: Wade and the lights

Wade was first through the door, one moment he was standing before it the next he was stepping through and then the next he was gone. Only darkness remained, a black filling the threshold. I hesitated. Looking back on the corridor I had just endured I wondered if there could be something worse beyond this door, and if it was, how so?
I realised I was wasting time and drew my attention back to the door, with a sigh I stepped through. I appeared next to Wade, he was staring straight ahead. I followed his gaze and took a step back. I had heard him tell me about it, but his version dulled it down a lot, I had no idea. Two cars merged with one another at the side of the road. Blood was sprayed across the broken windshields of both, panels were crumpled, I could see some hair on the side window and-
I turned and vomited again.
‘I knew it was going to be bad,’ said Wade. ‘This was the night I killed her.’
I wiped my mouth and turned to look at him, I thought for a moment to say something, but Wade had never listened to me especially when it came to matters of fault. We merely stood in silence, watching.
‘Something’s wrong,’ said Wade.
‘What?’
‘The cars… they’re not, I mean they were burned, but they’re not. This isn’t right, this isn’t-’
A scream broke Wade off, a scream that tore at my soul. It was filled with sorrow, pain, terror and loneliness. Wade’s door opened and a bloody, younger Wade staggered out dragging Sara behind him. There were tears in his eyes, streaming down his face, leaving clean lines in the mask of blood that covered his face. He screamed again, her name this time. He pushed his mouth against hers and beat his hands against her chest to no avail, she was gone. Wade cradled her up on his lap and stroked her hair, kissing her forehead, screaming in between.
Wade fell to the ground beside me, ‘no’ he said. ‘No, no, no, no,’ he repeated, and continued doing so.
‘Wade, what’s going on? I thought you didn’t wake up until after the accident?’
‘No! This didn’t happen, it didn’t happen like this.’
‘Like what, what’s going to-’ and then I saw.
The driver from the other car moved, his face was cut up pretty bad, he was bleeding everywhere. He slumped against the car door and murmured something intelligible at the past Wade.
‘No,’ said the Wade beside me, ‘he was drunk, and it was his fault, all his.’
‘Wade...’ I moved closer to my friend and placed my hand on his shoulder. We then watched as he gently placed Sara down and ambled slowly over to the cars. He stood there for a moment looking at the other driver, he leaned in the window for a moment and then drew back out, his face full of rage.
‘I smelt it on him, the alcohol, it was all over him, there was a bottle, and he must have been drinking it while he was driving.’
I watched this strange scene as my friend commentated upon himself. He put his hand into his pocket and brought forth a lighter. I shook my head; I could not believe what I was seeing. Wade put his hand and lighter within the car and set fire to the man, so covered was he in booze that he went up quickly. He began to scream, a high pitched sound, terrible. Wade just stood there and watched, anger slowly draining away, a sad smile replacing it. The Wade next to me began to cry. Eventually something in the cars must have caught because the fire spread and it wasn’t long before they were both aflame. And there within their sickly glow Wade bathed, nursing his dead girlfriend.
‘Wade, how come you didn’t tell anyone?’
‘Why? And have you think I was a monster! I killed him, I didn’t even think twice about it.’
‘So what? He deserved it didn’t he, he killed her by his actions.’
‘I already tried that reasoning. It’s bullshit. I found out later on that his wife and just taken his kids and run off, just like that, no wonder he didn’t care anymore.’
‘Wade, is this why you tried to kill yourself? Because of this? He wasn’t worth it.’
Wade shook his head. ‘No, it had nothing to do with him. You know, even after realising he was drunk I still thought – still think – that it is my fault. I should have been paying more attention, if I had been watching the road instead of looking at her then this could have been avoided and she’d… she’d still be alive.’ Wade began crying again and my argument was lost. I reached down and helped him to his feet; I embraced him until the crying dried.
While we were talking the scene had changed. The accident had become frozen, flames stood in spot, a drop of blood sizzled on a shard of glass, a vapour hung above it, consistent. I let go of Wade and pointed, he turned and gasped, I saw then what made him do so.
Sara had begun to stand up. The younger Wade was frozen in motion like everything else in the tableau, from his lap Sara slowly raised her head, as she turned to us a section of her scalp fell away and dangled by one cheek. One eye was filled with blood; the other was a brilliant blue. Her long blonde hair was all over the place and streaked with red. Even the horror she currently was though, I could see the beauty that lay beneath and why Wade would have fallen for her. When she stood upright she then pointed at Wade, he whimpered beside me.
‘You’ she said, in a voice of decay. ‘You have forgotten.’ We both just stood there, unable to comprehend what was going on. ‘Forgotten,’ she repeated.
‘What have you forgotten, Wade?’ I asked.
He turned to look at me, ‘I have no idea, I guess that’s why it’s forgotten.’
‘Remember,’ said the walking dead ‘remember…’ She then began to wail, a high pitched sound that reached down my throat and threatened to pull my organs out. The pitch grew again and again, and with each increase my vision faded until all I could hear was her banshee’s wail.

I opened my eyes, I was sitting in the back of the car, it was night-time, and Wade was seated next to me and also in front of me. Sara was in the passenger seat. Sleeping with ghosts was playing loudly throughout the car. Sara leaned over the stroke Wade’s hand on the steering wheel, he smiled at her.
‘This isn’t good,’ mumbled Wade.
‘Why?’
‘Think about it, accident…’
‘Oh shit.’
Outside scenery flashed by as it only can at night-time, it had taken on a darker cast, everything was created of shadows that sought to escape their daily shapes and become something else. There were no lights, from houses or any other source, it was remote.
‘Where are we?’ I asked.
‘Mt.Dandenong.’
‘How long do we have?’
‘Five more corners.’
‘Oh,’ I could think of nothing to say or do, so I merely sat and waited for the inevitable. The music was turned down and I looked forward. We went around a corner, four more, I thought.
‘Wade, I’ve been thinking,’ Sara began.
‘Did it hurt?’ he asked.
She laughed, three more, ‘No I’m serious here, don’t you feel like we’re not going anywhere? I mean we’ve been together for four years now and-‘
‘What is this Sara?’ As Wade spoke the words from the front I looked over at my friend in the back. His face had frozen in place, his eyes locked on what was playing out in the front of the car, mouth slightly open and tears forming at his eyes.
‘This two more is… I don’t know, we’ve outgrown one another, and I think that it’s time that one more we broke up.’
Front-seat Wade turned for a moment to look at her, back-seat Wade screamed, headlights came from around the next corner, coming fast. They filled up my vision, light was everything, except for Wade’s screams.
Impact.

‘I never got to say goodbye,’ Wade said from beside me. We were once more standing outside of the accident, Sara was there before us and the scene was still frozen. ‘I just ignored it, what she said, ignored it like it never happened. She wanted to break-up, remember what you said about unrequited love? Well sometimes even that is better than nothing. Especially if that’s all we have.’
I looked at my friend, crying in the echo of frozen flames, standing there before his dead girlfriend. ‘Say goodbye now, Wade. She’s there.’
‘It’s not as easy as that.’
‘Yes it is,’ I replied. ‘Here makes it harder, but it also makes it easier. Try.’
Wade walked over to Sara and took her bloody hands in his. He looked her in the face and leaned forward whispering things in her ear that I could not hear nor want to. After a few minutes he embraces her, his face was wet with fresh tears.
‘Goodbye’ he said, and then she vanished and a door stood in her place. ‘Is this mine?’ he asked turning to me.
‘Yes,’ I said without hesitation, this seemed right, more than right whatever that is. ‘It’s your exit Wade,’ I didn’t know how I knew this; it had the same feeling as knowing it was his door. ‘Leave, get out of here, we’ll all see you soon.’
Wade walked over and drew me into a hug, ‘thanks for all this, are you sure you can get out?’
‘Yes. Now go.’
He smiled, raking his hands through spiky hair and opened the door, raising a hand in farewell he stepped through. He vanished and as he did so his world did as well. I found myself facing a door, nothing else, I stood in oblivion. It didn’t have the scary feeling of the void we had crossed earlier. It had an almost comfortable feeling to it, a feeling of anticipation of creation. I opened the door, on the other side stood the dome; I took a deep breath and stepped through, returning to my friends.

The dome had changed. I noticed that as soon as I stepped through. On the platform in the centre it was no longer just an arm, a bull’s head on a stout next was there also, the arm rose above it and the axe had lost its ancient stone look, it was brighter, it looked almost like metal. Another change above, the ceiling had appeared, the outside sky no longer visible. Looking up gave me an extreme sense of vertigo as mirrored images by the thousands looked back at me. I kept my eyes ahead and walked towards the centre. Amber saw me first.
‘You’re back!’ she yelled, running up and throwing her arms around me.
‘Where’s Wade?’ asked Trent
‘Yeah, the maze got him, didn’t it,’ Jay added.
‘No,’ I said. ‘It didn’t. He’s out… Who’s next?’

Mazed : Copyright G.W.Sebire 22/02/05

 

[Tech Stock Tony]

^This is the literary equivalent of diaharrea.

 

[Shucklak]

bhahaahahahaha.........

 

[onetwothreefour]

tech stock: what a helpful comment.

anyway, as i've already mentioned before, i really like this piece....i'm very anxious to read the ending.

 

[ButrosButros_Grantos]

Soon, well with 3-4 weeks, maybe.