The Maze of Nightmares

Six: David

David

When the walls went up, David's first thought was You have got to be kidding me! They had been sucked into this strange place, told they needed to face their fears, and now they were separated!

He tried shouting to see if the others could hear him. When he got no response, he looked at his two options. Sighing, he went left. As soon as he chose a path, a wall slammed up behind him. No going back now. He walked slowly down the hallway, looking closely at the halls. At first glance, they seemed featureless, but upon closer inspection he noticed pressure plates and similar holes in the walls as if for spikes or darts. Avoiding the pressure plate, he switched to a different path. There were even more traps!

He continued to switch from path to path, getting more desperate as each one yielded worse traps. Eventually, now running, he stumbled over a lever and the floor retracted beneath his feet, dropping him into an abyss.

David screamed. He was falling, he was so high up and he was falling! By the law of physics, once he hit the ground, he would be dead. Then, the ground came into view. There were spikes sharp and large enough to impale an elephant sprouted from it.

Even more terrified, David desperately tried to find something to hold onto. His palms grew friction-burned and bloody, making it even harder to grasp on anything.

As he fell, he wondered if he would see his father after he had died. He thought back to a day with his father all those years ago.

Six-year-old David is playing chess with his father. David, already very smart, makes a mistake.

"Checkmate, David." Ben Greenglass said, moving his knight.

David pouts. "Daddy..." he whined.

"Don't worry, buddy, it's alright. You made your move, hoping that I would respond by moving my queen and making my king vulnerable. Not bad logic, but you need to look closer. If you had moved your rook, I couldn't have made the move I did."

David sighed. "Yes, Daddy."

"Hey, David, don't worry. You'll get it. This is just chess. Just remember: logic can get you out of anything, but only if you notice the little details. It's hard sometimes, but an important life skill." Ben taught his son.

David nodded slowly then smiled. "I will, Daddy."

After that day, David always used his logic. After his father died, David became more closed off, not laughing or smiling for the first year. David never really got over losing his father, his rock.

As David fell closer to the spikes, he noticed the lack of wind in his face. Falling that fast from so high should make everything blur. That wasn't happening. Every detail of his impending doom was crystal clear. That was illogical. David's brain went into high gear, overriding the fear. It was illogical. David needed logic. It was impossible. David only believed the impossible could happen in stories. David crossed his arms and closed his eyes. This was not right and he didn't like it.

Always notices the details...

He never hit the spikes.

David opened his eyes and found himself in a trap free corridor. There was no sign of the shaft he had fallen down. Smiling that his logic had allowed him to pass the first test like his father had said, David set off down the new corridor. He would find the others. And Rose...

Filled with determination, he began to run, the sound of his sneakers slapping the black stone ringing in his ears.

Let's see who gets to the center first!