A Maze for Humans

A Maze for Humans

By E. M. Areson

“Isabella!”

She jolted awake, “What?”

“The next team is almost past the confusing hallway. We have to get going…” Liam looked a little sheepish as he added. “Also you looked like you were having a bad dream.”

“Thanks, it didn’t start to bad though. I was back home, on Earth. You remember Earth?”

Liam nodded and she continued as they begin to walk down more of the endless halls of the maze.

“In my dream, there was this guy, I don’t even remember what he looked like, but he wanted to go out. So we went to the movies and watched this movie about people trapped in a maze. And I started to panic, then my date turned into the Announcer and started giving his usual speech about testing humanity.”

“Sounds bad,” Liam played with the strings of his green drawstring bag. It held all their possessions, so basically nothing. “You know, just because we’re in the maze doesn’t mean that someone can’t, you know, like you.”

She looked over, noticing him in a new light. They’d been stuck in the maze together for about a year if they figured right. He’d been fat when they’d first been taken for the maze but now he was thin and muscular. She’d been on the larger side too, but like Liam, she was now rather thin. Not all the teens had been lucky enough to get such a good partner. Many had died already, every day was a struggle against the maze and against the other competitors.

“Are you saying that you like me?” Direct, once she never would have asked a guy if he liked her.

Liam shrugged, “We spend every minute of every day together. I’d be hard to, you know, not like you at least a little.”

She pushed his shoulder playfully, “You're just saying that to make me feel better.”

“You’re right, should have gone for something more believable,” He smiled and pulled away from her next playful swat.

“Seriously? Stay still so I can hit you.” Isabella yelled.

Liam took off at a sprint, “You’ll have to catch me first.”

They ran down hallway after hallway, sometimes uphill sometimes downhill. They slowed down and speed up according to their mood. Whatever felt right was right, they kept up like his for about half an hour without running into any puzzles or traps. Liam jogged around a sharp corner and stopped so suddenly Isabella almost ran into him.

“What is it.” She looked over his shoulder and saw a balancing beam only a few inches off the ground for about twenty feet. “This gets annoying.”

“Tell me about it Iza. You think they’d, you know, get tired of these same old tests.”

“At least this isn’t one of the falls to your death ones. Probably just an electric shock,” Isabella smiled at him.

“I still hate these things.”

They crossed without too much difficulty, in fact, compared to many this one was easy. It didn’t have spikes, it didn’t rotate and it didn’t have raising and lowering parts. It seemed rather like a simple balancing beam. They walked down the new hall the beam had lead to. After about five minutes the curving hall lead to a white door.

“It that…” Liam couldn’t finish.

“The white door… Liam, we finished the maze!” Isabella laughed and Liam laughed with her, they hugged tightly.

“I almost forgot to look for it, it been so long,” Liam said letting go of her and going to stroke the door.

“Me too, think anyone else is in there?” Isabella asked taking his hand.

“Let's find out.” Liam grabbed the doorknob and an electric shock went through them both.

Twenty minutes later another group, this time two boys came on the door. They looked at the bodies and laid them side by side so they looked more peaceful. The dead would disappear from the maze at what everyone assumed was the end of the day, though with no sunlight or clocks it was hard to tell.

“You think we should knock or just go back?” The taller boy asked.

The other one thought for a moment, “Knock. We’ve come this far, might as well try it.”

The taller one knocked three times close together like he didn’t even realize he was doing it three times. They weighted and a second later the door opened.

Photo By: Filip Kominik