The Lost Labyrinth

2. A Terribly Beautiful Cave

I woke up with a pounding headache. All I could hear was Maeve's voice screaming "Wake up Maddie!". I sat up with blurred vision, when my vision cleared I looked Maeve in the eye. She looked terrified.
"I'm so glad you're awake!" She said.
"What happened?" I could barely remember a thing.

The last thing I remembered was her pushing me through the wall which sounds really weird.
"We fell through a trap door in the wall and now we're here..." her voice trailed off. I looked around to see gray concrete walls, a bright blue river in the middle and a small boat. The river was the prettiest shade of cyan I'd ever seen, clear as glass. It had bright green and purple plants growing everywhere. It was terrifying yet beautiful.

I looked up behind me to see a tall wooden plank wall with a trap door attached to it. It had a latch and a lock. I reached it and pulled hard, it didn't budge. I tried again and nothing. We were officially stuck.

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Being stuck somewhere is scary, especially when it's in a cave with light only from purple fruits and glowing water. While Maeve was pacing back and forth contemplating her life choices, I was trying to devise a plan. Maybe we could get out through the trap door with no key. If we used all our strength maybe we could break the door somehow. I knew that was highly impossible but what other choice did we have?

Then that's when I saw it. A light. This could be a sign of many things! Life, food, water, preferably an exit?
"Maeve look!" I pointed behind where she was pacing.

"Oh my..."

I got up off the ground and grabbed her hand. We ran toward the light hoping for an exit. We happened to run into a room, the source of the light. It wasn't an exit but it was something alright. It was a huge marble white room with golden trimmed stairs and balconies. It had millions of books spiralling downwards following the stairs. In the middle of the room was a small coffee table. On the table was a book that said 'How to navigate the labyrinth', a backpack and a golden key.

"Look! It's how to navigate this place" I said.
"How do you know this place is a 'labyrinth" she replied.
"I know words. This place a huge maze, we have to get out as soon as possible"

I took the backpack on the table. It was small and red. I put the key and the book in the backpack and slung it over my shoulder. I looked to the other side of the room to find a work bench. I walked over to it and looked around. I found a blue light pen with an invisible ink marker and a creepy brown leather diary. I put the diary in my backpack, it could be helpful. The diary looked old and worn out, like most things in this 'library'.

"This place is super creepy" Maeve whispered.
"It's ok, we're gonna make it out"
"Look over there!" She pointed to the side.
"Oh my..."

What I was looking at was genuinely terrifying. On the side graffitied on a wall was the words "If you get out of here never come back". Maeve grabbed the blue light pen and shined it on the wall. I don't know what gave her that idea but she was right. More words. It said "The labyrinth is a series of tunnels that shifts and changes with time. Every 6 minutes the tunnels shift to different directions. Get out while you still can". Well, that was a lot to take in. How do tunnels change form every 6 minutes? That makes no sense.

"Maeve, we have to try to get out now!"

We ran through the door and out back into the tunnel. I noticed the floor we were running on shifted from gray concrete to oak wood plants and so did the walls. The only thing that stayed the same was the plants and river on the side. I looked back and the doorway to the library was gone. Maeve had stopped in front of me and I bumped into her.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Look up!" She pointed.

I looked there was another trap door. Made of stone, It had no lock. Maeve opened it immediately and inside it was something unimaginable.