I take his hand and stand back up. Aiden looks over the edge of the tent and then lets go of my hand to make his way over to the first tree. When he moves to the second one, I move to the first. We continue this pattern until we are right back where we were at the Go Fishing game.

It’s unfortunate that we have to come back here. The guards will know to look for us behind the game booths, but since there was no way out behind the main tent, the back of the booths is our only option.

We walk past the rock climbing wall and hide behind the next game booth on the other side of it. Aiden and I are moving slower than usual. I don’t know about him, but my legs feel like they are about to fall off. I think sitting down for a few minutes was a bad idea since my legs somehow hurt more now than they did before.

When we get to the next game booth, there are more wires behind it than most of the others, so I am extra careful to make sure that I don’t end up like Ethen. I can’t help but wonder where Ethen is now. I feel bad for leaving him there, but in a way, he did that to himself.

I think about what happened in his life to make him the way he is. How could someone grow up to wish their own brother dead? Was it his parent’s fault, or was it his own?

He says that he worked at the library, but I don’t remember ever seeing him in there, and I would go often. Did I ever say or do something to him to make him feel like he was less of a person?

I need to stop thinking about Ethen. I have to get out of here and back to Devin. I can’t do that if I am thinking about other people.

We make our way back to the maze using our original method of moving behind the game booths and occasionally going inside the game booths. There are definitely more guards around, and it has gotten significantly darker.

Now that most of the game booths have been turned off, it has become harder to see where we are going and what we are stepping on. I try to move my feet around on the ground before I take a step in order to make sure I am not about to step on anything or get my foot caught on something. One wrong move and I could step on a twig, a guard could hear it, and we will be running around this place all over again. This can’t happen because I am too tired of running. I simply just don’t have the energy for it anymore.

When we get behind the next game booth, I move my feet slowly in order to not trip over any of the wires. This is difficult since some wires are sticking out in weird directions, and some of them have formed loops that my feet can easily get stuck in, so I try to be as careful as possible.

We cross over to the next booth and wait a minute. Aiden looks over the side of the booth and quickly puts his head back in the booth. I can just make out the shape of Aiden’s face, and I know that it’s not good. Someone must be coming.

About ten seconds later, I hear the footsteps, they are near us, but it sounds like it is just one guard. I look in the direction we came from, and I can see the faint outline of a person reflected on the booth we were previously behind. I tap my fingers on Aiden’s hand to get his attention. When he looks at me, I point to the booth.

I know he understands this because he holds my hand tighter and inches closer to the edge of the booth, farther away from where the guard is heading. When the guard gets closer to the booth, and I can see the start of his foot coming our way, Aiden quickly moves to the front of the booth, and I do the same.

Once I am standing in front of the booth, I notice that the guard is just looking behind the game and not actually going entirely behind it. I can see the guards back towards us, and when he looks like he is about to come back to the front of the booth, Aiden and I rush to move back behind it.

My heart is racing, and it feels like we are running again, although we are not. The back of the booth is empty once more, with the exception of the wires. We wait behind the booth for the guard to leave. Aiden looks to the left while I look to the right in order to make sure the guard isn’t going to look back here again.

When the sound of the guard’s footsteps fades away, Aiden finally loosens his grip on my hand. This is not going to be easy. There are going to be more guards looking for us, and this time, they know where we like to hide.

I contemplate the idea of just running to the Mirror Maze and out of the carnival, but I know that it won’t work out well. There is no way of outrunning the guards. Even if we make it to the maze without getting caught, we would still be leading the guards to everyone who is hiding in the woods.

I take a moment to close my eyes, take a deep breath in and exhale. When I am ready I look at Aiden and nod to let him know we can go.

We keep moving at a slow and tedious pace since we constantly have to stop and wait for one or more guards to pass. Most of the time, they just check the inside of the game booth, but other times, Aiden and I have to move around the booth since the guards will try to find us behind it. This means that we have to keep stopping, listening, and predicting what the guard’s next move will be.

One time, a guard didn’t just look behind the game booths, but instead, he circled the whole thing. Aiden and I did not know he was going to do this, and we nearly got caught while trying to move to the opposite side of the booth, away from the guard’s eyesight. Each time we do this, I think we are going to get caught. I tell myself to prepare to try and fight the guard or run from him. Each time we don’t get caught, I am a little bit relieved, but I know that it is going to happen again.

We move past two more game booths before having to cross a small opening over to another set of booths. The opening is small and poorly lit up due to the majority of the games no longer emitting a million bright lights. Once we are on the other side, there are about five more games we have to get through until we have to cross over again to another group of games, and then we will be at the maze.

We make it to the second game booth in this area when the sound of gunshots being fired is heard. The initial sound of the first shot being fired scares me, and I immediately believe we are being shot at, so I duck down as far as I can behind the booth. I cover my ears as the second and third shot is fired. I close my eyes as hard as I can since I know that at any second, one of these bullets are going to hit us.

I wait to feel some sort of pain, but nothing happens.

I feel Aiden crouch down beside me, “They are not shooting at us.” Aiden says quietly next to my ear. “They are not shooting at us, Sam. The sound is coming from over by the main tent. They aren’t near us. You are fine, we are okay. It’s okay, Sam.”

It takes me a minute to process the words he is saying. One more gunshot goes off, and I realize Aiden is right. The sound is coming from farther away and not from where we are.

I slowly open my eyes and see Aiden staring at me with a worried expression. It isn’t until I take my hands away from my ears that I notice that I am crying. I don’t know when I started crying, but it must have been at least a minute ago since my face is very wet.

“It’s okay, Sam,” Aiden says again.

He pulls me closer to him and gives me a sideways hug.

He tries to bring me to my feet, and once he does, he starts leading me inside the game booth. “Here, let’s take a minute and hide in here,” He says.

I recognize the game, it is the one with the horses on the table, and they are all lined up as if they are about to race. We had to get our horse to the finish line first in order to win. I try to remember the name of the game. Was it Race Track, Race Horse, or Race Me? I can’t remember. It was definitely Race something.

Aiden and I go and hid under the table that has the horses on it. There is a small tarp that goes over the table and reaches about midway before the ground. We move to the back of it to make sure no one can see us if they were to look inside.

I sit there on the ground and bring my knees up to my chest. Aiden and I sit there for a few minutes in silence while I try to calm myself down. I try not to think about who the guards were shooting at, but I can’t help it. These are innocent people. We all are. We don’t deserve to be shot at or chased down.

The shooting came from over by the main tent. Does that mean that someone was trying to break out, or does it mean that they saw someone running around similar to me and Aiden? Was it Ethen they were shooting at? Did he try to run from them?

I hate all of these questions in my head. They should not be there.

Chapter 30

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