It does not take us long to reach the Mirror Maze. We make it there within five minutes or so. We make our way to the exit of the maze and enter.

The previous times we were in here, I had to let my eyes adjust to the blinding bright lights that made out the outline of the mirrors. This time that does not happen. The guards must have turned off the power to the building or just turned off the lights in general. Either way, it is pitch black in there.

Aiden gives my hand a squeeze. “Don’t let go of my hand.”

Aiden walks in first since he has the helmet on, the perks of being able to see in the dark. I follow him inside and close the door behind me. The second I do this, I become very aware that I can’t see anything aside from the green light on Aiden’s helmet. If it were not for that light, then I would have thought that I had gone blind.

Aiden walks slowly, and I try to do my best not to walk into him. I use my free hand to feel for any mirrors and decoys to avoid walking into them.

“What’s wrong?” I whisper to Aiden when he stops walking.

“I used the lights along the borders of the mirrors to see where to go last time. The door to the outside is on a mirror with a slightly larger border of light around it. Now that the lights have been turned off, I am having a hard time figuring out where to go.”

“I guess we will just guess then. I mean, we have the time, right? The sun won’t be rising for at least another hour or two. We will just have to keep a listen to hear if anyone comes in here,” I tell him.

“Okay, let’s try this way first, then.”

Aiden leads my hand to the left, and we continue that way for a while before he stops abruptly, and I walk right into him. He puts his hand on my waist to help stabilize me after I lose my balance.

“Sorry,” he says. “I think I just walked us into a corner.”

The light hearted way he just said that makes me want to laugh. I fight it, though, since right now doesn't feel like the right time to be laughing at anything. I take a few steps back so Aiden can get around me, and when he does, he starts leading the both of us through the maze again.

The singular green light from Aiden’s helmet reflects on the mirror around us. Walking around here with him feels like stepping inside a kaleidoscope. If he weren’t holding my hand, then I would have no idea where he actually was. Sometimes, I can see the reflection of the light off in the distance. Other times, it looks like he is standing to the left and right of me all at the same time.

We continue to make a few more turns, and then Aiden stops again. He lets out a frustrated sigh and states, “We are back at the start of the maze. We are going to have to do this all over again.”

I move to the side to let Aiden pass me, and I try to come up with ways to get us out of here faster so that we won’t end up stuck in this maze all night.

“Why don’t we try pushing on the mirrors a little bit? Maybe we will end up opening the door out of dumb luck,” I suggest.

“We can try that, but I am afraid of knocking a mirror down and drawing attention to ourselves.”

“We can still try it, but we just have to be careful not to push too hard,” I tell him.

Aiden says okay, and as we make our way through the maze again, I give light pushes on the mirrors and probably the decoys, too. I can’t tell the difference.

The ones that wobble let me know that they are placed in an area with no wall behind it, and therefore, I am pushing on stuff that is unstable and could crash down, so I push lighter. Once I push on something and it does not wobble, I know a wall is behind it, and we are getting closer to where the door is.

We take a few more turns and get caught in three more corners, but we keep moving on. We make another turn just as I hear the sound of a door closing. I look at Aiden, and I can tell from the green light reflecting on his face that he heard it, too.

The two of us start frantically pushing on the mirrors, trying to find where the door is. The mirrors start getting wobbly again, and I do not think we missed the door. We are probably at the wrong wall.

Aiden starts pulling my hand around the maze faster. I do not know if the guard knows we are in here or if he is just doing a general check, but I really do not want him to find us.

We are relatively quiet as we move through the maze, and I try to look around to see if I see anything. I assume the guard has a helmet on like the others, so I try to look for the green light that comes from it, but I don’t think I will be able to spot the difference between the guard’s light and Aiden’s.

All I see is various sizes of green lights reflecting from all around, and it is stressing me out. Are these all Aidens, or is it from another guard? How many guards came in here?

Honestly, we only heard the sound of a door closing, a guard could have only peaked his head in and then left, or there could have already been one in here before we were, and they just left. I doubt that last thought since we have been in here forever and have circled this place at last twice. I try to tell myself that the first option is the truth and that we will be alright.

I try lightly pushing on the mirrors and decoys as we pass by them, but nothing is sturdy. I almost want to push them all to the floor to find the door, but that would not only give away our location by attracting guards to the sound. It would probably also break the mirrors, and we would have to watch where we step to ensure we don’t cut ourselves. It's just a bad idea.

Aiden stops instantly, and I walk into him once again. He still holds my hand, but he uses his other one to wrap around my shoulders and led us back to wherever we just came from.

As Aiden is rushing us back in that direction, he whispers in my ear, “I saw the guard. I think it is only the one.”

I think about trying to hide from the guard. If there is only one, then maybe we can hide long enough for him to walk through the maze and leave. The only problem with this plan is that there is no good place to hide in here. We could try hiding ourselves in a corner and hope the guard doesn’t find us there, but that is unlikely, and if we do end up getting spotted, then we would have nowhere to run.

I let Aiden lead us wherever since he is the one who can see. We keep moving. Aiden abruptly turns around sometimes to head back where we came, and I can only assume it is because he saw the guard. I realize now that all of these mirrors and decoys might be confusing when seeing other people in the maze. Is Aiden actually seeing the guard, or is he seeing a reflection of himself?

We turn a corner, and I spot the guard only a few feet away. I can tell this is not Aiden since the guard’s green light from his helmet is higher up by about three or four inches. The guard is facing our direction, and I just know in my gut that he has seen us.

Aiden quickly turns back around, and we start moving in the opposite direction again. I can’t help feeling like we have been running back and forth through this maze at least ten times.

We make another turn, and the guard is right there. Aiden tries to turn us around to run, but the guard punches him in the face, and he falls. I feel the guard’s hand grab my upper arm, and I try to pull away. He doesn't release me, and his grip doesn't loosen at all, so I try to kick at him. This is hard to do since the only thing I can see is the light from his helmet.

I kick what I believe to be his knee, and he lets go of my left arm. I use this opportunity to try and grab the gun that is in the waistband of my jeans. As soon as I have it in my hands, the guard smacks my forearms hard, and the gun falls to the floor. He then punches me in the face, and the next thing I know, I am on the ground.

Pain. That is all I feel at first. Then, there is a throbbing sensation that comes next. I touch the side of my head where he punched me, but it stings. I don't think it is bleeding, so that is good. At least, I think it's a good thing. I'm not a doctor, so I don't know. I am going to hope it's good, though.

I think I see Aiden get up, but it is hard to tell. I feel around the ground, trying to find where the gun went, when I remember that I have a second one in my pocket from the guard Aiden knocked out before we came here.

I raise the gun, but I have no idea where to point it. I can’t tell who is who anymore with the both of them fighting. I can see their heads moving around, and I can hear the sound of fists connecting with something on someone's body, but I can’t actually see their bodies or what exactly is going on. I don’t want to shoot and accidentally kill Aiden.

“Aiden, flashlight!” I yell, hoping he will have a chance to give me the flashlight he took from one of the guards in the kitchen.

I don’t know what happens next, but both of them fall, taking a few mirrors down with them from the sound of it. I wince at the sound of glass shattering, and I hope Aiden is alright.

Another second goes by before I hear the two of them fighting again. I try feeling on the ground for anything, and my hand eventually lands on what feels like a metal object. I feel around some more, and I realize that it is the flashlight. I do not know if Aiden threw it to me or if it just fell out of his pocket, but I quickly turn it on to get a better look at what is going on.

I wave the flashlight around until I can see that Aiden and the guard are now standing up. Aiden no longer has his helmet on, and the guard takes another swing at his head. Aiden dodges it and backs up a little from the guard. I can see blood on both of them, and it looks like the side of Aiden’s face must be cut because there is a stream of blood running down his face and neck. His gun is no longer in sight, but it doesn’t look like the guard has his gun on him either, so this makes me feel better.

“I thought I saw Governor Wood’s son walking around here earlier. Long time no see,” the guard says, looking at Aiden. When he sees me pointing the gun at him, he puts his hands up and doesn’t move.

I take a look at Aiden’s face to see if he knows what the guard is talking about, but Aiden just looks angry and ready to fight the guard some more. I point my gun at the guard and get ready to warn him that I will shoot him if he moves.

“You two are really working together? Now, I would not have expected that. Does your father know where you are, Atlas?” The guard says.

I stop thinking about warning the guard about shooting him, and I instead decide I want to know what he is talking about. “What do you mean?”

“You didn’t tell her?” The guard says in a taunting tone.

“Sam-”

Aiden’s words get cut off by the guard, “Atlas, here is the son of Governor Alfred Wood,” he says to me. The guard then turns back to Aiden, “You know there have been a lot of people looking for you. Most people thought you died.”

I look at Aiden in disbelief and wait for him to say something, but he doesn’t. “Aiden?” I say, trying to get him to explain.

“Aiden? Is that the name you go by now? Interesting.” The guard says the last word with a hint of ridicule.

I look at Aiden again,” Aiden! Is it true!”

The guard takes this moment to lunge at me and knock the gun out of my hand again. He punches me and then pushes me into what I assume is a mirror. I fall through, shattering it in the process. Pain races from my shoulder and down my arm.

I hear Aiden yell something that I can’t make out the words to. I reach around on the ground, trying to feel for the flashlight I dropped at some point in my fall. When I finally find it, I look up and shine it around the room. I can see the guard standing a few feet from me, and I see Aiden run at the guard and tackle him down.

At first, Aiden is on top of him, punching the guard, but then the guard manages to flip them over so that Aiden is on his back. The guard puts his hands around Aiden’s neck and starts choking him.

I search around the ground, trying to find either one of the guns I had, but I can’t seem to find one. I know I don’t have much time, so I pick up the biggest shard of glass I can see and quickly run to Aiden. I stab the glass into the guard’s shoulder with as much strength as I can. The guard yells in pain, looks at his shoulder, and then looks at me.

I see the look of anger in his eyes as he lets go of Aiden, grabs my neck, and throws me down to the ground. He leans over me with his hand still on my neck. I struggle to grab at his hands to get them off of me, and when that doesn’t work, I kick my feet up, but it is no use. The guard is too strong. It is becoming harder and harder to breathe as he applies more pressure.

There is a loud bang, and the pressure on my neck disappears. I start to be able to breathe again as the guard's grip on my neck weakens, and I see the guard’s body fall to the ground. I crawl away from the guard and over to Aiden. I see Aiden holding his gun up, and the look of fear and terror is written on his face.

I point the flashlight back over to the guard, and I can see blood coming out of the side of his head. Aiden killed him.

“Aiden…” My voice comes out barely audible.

“We need to go now,” Aiden says, still in shock, “The guards will have heard that, and they will all be coming here.”

I wave my flashlight on the ground until I find both the guns I dropped. I pick them up, and when I turn back to look for Aiden, I see he has found the door. I guess it is easy to find the door when most of the mirrors have been knocked down. He has his gun in one hand and one of the helmets in the other. I walk over to him and turn the flashlight off.

Aiden does not say anything. He just simply opens the door and walks out.

Chapter 33

0 Comments