Beyond the Maze

Chapter 4: Echoes from the Past

My mind was still confused. Without answers, without explanations. Nothing. I could only try to take refuge in my mind and remember, or try to remember, the reference to that boy's name. Aris. Aris, right? I realized that I could not assimilate any record of my memory associated with that name. Everything was still fuzzy and confusing, plus the blistering heat didn't help at all. I noticed how a drop of sweat was sliding gently down the left side of my face, down my cheek. It was just a drop, but it felt like a small metal blade making a gentle cut across that area of my face. That began to cause me a small state of madness that, linked to the mystery of not knowing where we were and the adrenaline that derived from the ignorance, made me become more and more addicted to the unknown. Only another sip from the glass of water Aris had left me could erase any trace of that cocktail of overlapping emotions.

The boy was giving glasses of water to the two girls who were sitting with their backs against the wall in between, inside the aircraft. They didn't seem to be very proactive in making conversation, although Aris had tried several times to talk to them. He got no response. I put the glass down on a small ledge to my left and began to talk a bit.

"Do any of you know what the hell happened?" Or, at least, do you know where they lead us? I intoned affably as he crossed his legs and sat up a bit.

The girls just looked at me. An icy sensation, which ran through my body from head to toe, hit me suddenly. I didn't get any response.

"What a bad vibe..." I said whispering.

"Stop wasting your breath, um..." Aris snapped, waiting for me to give him an answer.

"Elian, my name is Elian," I answered immediately.

"A pleasure to meet you, Elian, but as I was saying, don't waste your saliva, and therefore water, talking to them because they won't tell you anything," the boy replied, grumbling a little.

"It seems so," I answered reluctantly and sighing.

Fifteen or twenty minutes passed, forever, as usual, with hardly anyone saying anything. None of the four of us who were in the cockpit of that aircraft had the intention of uttering a word.

I took a quick look at said cabin, to be able to familiarize myself, a little, with the environment that surrounded me. It didn't have much of a mystery, it was a matt black cabin, with ten seats, five on each wall, which were similar to those usually found in some theme park attractions, and from which seat belts hung. The little room was about twenty feet long by ten feet wide. It wasn't very spacious but enough for the four of us to lie down if we needed to. There were also many cables, plugs, electrical devices, and buttons with lights, red and white.

There was also a row of windows that extended through the middle area of the cabin and the walls, placed in the seating spaces. That was what kept the interior of the aircraft illuminated, a reddish and dim light, but that gave off an intense and suffocating heat.

I was leaning against one of the walls, on the floor, with my legs crossed and stretched out, and with my head resting on said wall. Aris seemed quite nervous, perhaps because of the embarrassment of the situation or, being my opinion, because he was weak-minded.

Silence continued to be one of the absolute protagonists, only interrupted by the sound of the aircraft's propellers. It was like Chinese torture. Horrible, but he was coping as best he could. The heat, the other great actor in that situation, also reminded us that he was still there. In the form of hot flashes, sweats, and feints of sleep. I tried to evade the situation I was in by seeking the shelter of my mind. I couldn't, partly because everything I was trying to remember was fuzzy, and partly because Aris made a move to break the silence.