Labyrinth: Stranded The Series (bxb)

Sacrifices

(Joshua's POV) 

The sterile, white walls of the hospital are suffocating. I've been staring at them for hours, trying to distract myself from everything swirling in my head, but it's no use. The more I try to push it all down, the more it creeps back up—the labyrinth, the fog, the creatures. Dillon.

I've never been good at dealing with shit like this. The emotional fallout. The aftershock. I guess I got used to shoving everything down, pretending like none of it mattered. It's what I had to do growing up, watching my mom pour all her energy into Marcus, watching her ignore me like I wasn't even there. But now? After everything that happened in that fucking maze, I can't keep ignoring it. Not anymore.

The doctors discharged me this morning. My sister picked me up in her beat-up old car, the one with the cracked windshield and the smell of fast food that never goes away. Elena. She was surprisingly quiet on the ride back, barely saying a word. It's not like we've ever been close, but for once, she didn't have some shitty comment or complaint about life. I think even she realizes that something's changed. That I'm different now. Hell, we all are.

But my mom? She barely cared. She came to see me once while I was in the hospital—once. And even then, it was like she was just checking a box, making sure I was still alive so she could go back to pretending I don't exist. Marcus is still her golden boy, even with his constant fuck-ups, and I'm just... here. The afterthought. The one who was gone for months, and she didn't even seem to notice.

I should be used to it by now. I shouldn't care. But sitting here, in the silence of my sister's shitty apartment, I feel the weight of it pressing down on me harder than ever. It's like everything I've been holding in for years is finally crashing down, and there's no way to stop it.

The labyrinth might be gone, but its darkness is still here. It's inside me, creeping into my thoughts, my dreams. Every time I close my eyes, I see the fog. I see Emily's dead eyes. I see the creatures, the shifting walls, the endless corridors that trapped us, broke us, fed on us. And I wonder if I'll ever be able to forget it.

The cops came by again this morning, asking more questions. I gave them the same bullshit answers I gave before—lost in the mist, couldn't find our way out. But they're not buying it. They know something's off, but what the hell are we supposed to say? That we were trapped in a living nightmare? That we watched our friends die at the hands of creatures that shouldn't exist? No one would believe us. No one wants to believe us.

I glance at my phone, my fingers twitching with the urge to text Dillon. I haven't heard from him since we left the hospital. Not that I blame him. We've all been through hell, and maybe he needs time to process it all, just like I do. But still, there's this gnawing anxiety in my gut, this fear that I can't shake. What if we lost more than just our friends in that labyrinth? What if I lose him too?

I've never let anyone in the way I let Dillon in. Not even close. I never thought I could. Hell, I never thought I wanted to. I've spent my whole life building walls, keeping people at arm's length, because letting them in meant getting hurt. It meant being vulnerable, and that's something I've always been too scared to be.

But Dillon... he's different. He saw through my bullshit, saw me for who I am, even when I didn't want him to. And somehow, I let him in. I'm not sure how it happened, but it did. And now, I don't know what to do with that. It's fucking terrifying. But at the same time, it's the only thing that feels real.

I want to text him, to see how he's holding up, to make sure he's okay. But I don't. I just stare at the screen, my mind spinning with everything that's happened. With everything that could happen. What if this is just some weird, fucked-up thing between us because of what we went through? What if it's not real? Or worse, what if it is real, and I end up losing him anyway?

I'm scared. Scared of what this means, of what this thing between us is turning into. I've always been afraid of getting close to someone, of letting them see the parts of me I've tried to hide. But now, after everything we've been through, I can't hide anymore. I can't pretend that what I feel for him doesn't matter.

But that's what scares me the most.

I feel my phone buzz in my hand, and for a split second, my heart jumps, hoping it's Dillon. But it's just a notification—another news article about the "missing students" who were found after four months in the wilderness. They've spun the story into something dramatic, something that doesn't come close to the truth. Wild animals. Harsh conditions. That's the narrative they've decided on. The world will never know what really happened to us. And maybe that's for the best.

I toss the phone onto the couch and lean back, staring up at the cracked ceiling. Elena's out, probably drinking with her latest boyfriend, and I'm left alone with my thoughts. Alone with the memories I can't escape. I try to push them down, to bury them like I've always done, but they keep clawing their way back up, refusing to be ignored.

I don't know how to move forward from this. How to live in the real world after everything we've been through. I feel disconnected, like I'm not really here, like part of me is still trapped in that labyrinth. And no matter how hard I try to tell myself it's over, that we're free, I know it's not that simple.

The darkness is still there. Lurking. Waiting.

But maybe I don't have to face it alone.

Maybe that's the real sacrifice I have to make. Not letting go of the past, but letting someone else in. Letting Dillon in. It scares the shit out of me, but I think... I think I want to try. Because after everything we survived, after everything we lost, I don't want to lose him too.

I grab my phone again, my fingers hovering over the screen before I finally type out a message. It's simple, nothing profound, but it's a start.

"Hey, how are you holding up?"

I stare at the screen for a second before hitting send. My heart's pounding, my hands shaking, but I feel... lighter. Just a little.

I don't know what the future holds. I don't know what this thing between Dillon and me is going to turn into. But for the first time in a long time, I'm willing to find out.

The phone buzzes in my hand, and I glance down, my heart skipping a beat when I see his name pop up on the screen.

"I'm good. You?"

I smile, a real smile, for the first time since we escaped.

Maybe we're not as lost as I thought.