Maze

The Chosen

I wake and realize, 'I slept too long!' I jump out of bed and hurriedly put on a forest green dress. Dad and the others meet me at the door. We walk outside and make sure everything is perfect. The stool for the announcer, the placement of the four headbands, and the picture pointed towards the sunrise, they are all perfect. We sit on the Seraphine blanket as everyone else arrives. 

The announcer sits on his stool and inspects the headbands behind him. Then he begins by telling all of us about the history of Forln. He talks of the clan wars, and how the Maze was created. Then he lists off the Chosen. "First, " he begins, "Hannah from Hugomonst." Hannah shyly walks up to the front and he places the first headband on her head. The polite clapping from the crowd barely conceals all of the sadness and bitterness of her family and friends. 

He continues, " Drake from Doragin." Drake struts up to the front, the very picture of confidence. If one looked in his eyes, however, they would have seen that he was just as frightened and unsure as Hannah. 

The announcer, still oblivious to the rising hostility barely concealed behin the polite applause, says, "Zane from Mullivine." Zane stumbles up to the front, doubt in his eyes. He still doubts that he has really been picked. 

"From Seraphine, " the announcer says, "Beth." I wonder who that is but then realize I've been Chosen. I stand shakily, hearing the gasps of my family. I walk to the front and he places the headband on my head. 

We all turn as one and head through the picture, ripping it open. The announcer beckons us to the five horses. One has a rider. He is called the Taker. I climb onto a black horse. We ride off, away from my small, safe home where I have lived for so long. Away from my family and perhaps towards finding out what happened to my only friend. Her name was Sarah. 

We finally stop at the Maze. The walls are polished obsidian mixed with bedrock. Impossible to climb. They are also at least 25 feet high.

The Taker shoves us through the gate, then locks it behind us. I grab ten yellow rocks from the ground to mark where I already went. There are three passages. Which one do I pick? I decide to start at the right. I walk down the route I chose. It leads to a dead end. I turn back and draw an X in the dirt in front of that passage and line it with black rocks. 

I start through the center and it turns sharply right. I look around the cornerand see a dead end. But look! A loaf of bread was sitting on a blanket. I folded the smalll blanket and tucked it into my sash, along ith the bread. I turn back and mark another X, lining it with the same black rocks. 

I decide to sleep in the left corner and eat a couple mouthfuls of my bread. I curl up in a ball and fall into a deep sleep.