Bane Academy: To Run From Fear

Chapter 24

Shae

Soon, the landscape around us fades away and darkness slowly reappears. We've all landed on our feet but immediately stumble forwards or backwards onto the ground. We're all tired and groan as we hit the hard floor.
My vision has gone and my other senses are slowly dying too. By the feel of the floor, I assume we've landed in the maze again.
"Shae." Becca says, panting next to me.
"What time is it?" I ask.
"It's night time. But guess what."
"What?" I ask.
"We did it."

***

Blaring ringing echoes in my head and the harsh sun hurts my eyes. My body feels heavy as if I'm being pushed into the ground, I can't find any energy inside of me to get up.
I look to my left where I see Fade and Becca softly holding hands on the ground. I see their lips move, talking to each other. But Becca looks like she's about to cry. I look to my right and there's Dale. His chest heaves up and down quickly like a kid on a trampoline. His eyes are wide open, he's in shock.
The ringing in my ears dies down and the murmurs of familiar voices replace it. Soon I feel footsteps come toward us. A nurse leans over me and shines a light in both my eyes. She starts talking to me, but her voice is muffled. She gets up and moves on to Dale as two male nurses pick me up and place me on a gurney. We pass students and teachers and trees and bushes on the way to the academy's hospital.
Now I know what Becca means by 'We did it.' We didn't just conquer our fears.
We escaped the maze.

***

A soft nudge wakes me from my peaceful sleep. The first sleep I've had in what feels like months. I slowly open my eyes and see a red-haired boy with eyes wide in concern sit next to my bedside.
"Are you okay? What happened in there?"
"I'm fine." I say as I stretch. "And I can't really remember what happened. I just know that I was in the maze..." Now the memories come back into my mind, along with a pounding headache. "Oh no, it was horrible. There were small rooms and people accusing me of killing..."
"You don't have to say his name. What matters now is that you're out of the maze, it can't hurt you anymore. People are investigating what went wrong. Teachers will probably ask you guys questions later." Alex explains.
I hear the flapping of wings get louder and closer from out the hospital window. My owl, Beauty, flies in and lands on the end of my bed. A string of rope is grasped in her left claw and it leads to my shirt and pants that's wrapped around in rope. I stroke her black and white feathers in return and will reward her with a mouse or something later. The best feature about Beauty is her eyes, looking into her left eye is like looking into the deep blue ocean, all with different shades of blue. And staring into her right eye is like staring into the heart of the green amazon forest.
Alex's face looks so soft but filled with concern. Which was weird, why would he be here even when we've broken up. Especially how things ended between us...
"Who else was with you? Just you, Becca and Fade?" He asks.
"No. There was also Dale and..." I sit up quickly. "Skia" I whisper.
"What?"
How could I have forgotten about her until now? She could be anywhere in the maze, maybe in her own fear landscape about her turning back into a real maniae. "I've got to go back. I have to find her." I say getting out the hospital bed.
"No, you don't." Alex races in front of me. He has a tight grasp on my shoulders. "You're exhausted, you're dehydrated, and you need rest." He says slowly and attempts to gently guide me to the bed again.
I duck under his arm and run out of the room, still in my tattered clothes. I run down the hallway and check every room on the way down. The hospital wing is just like in the books. Wide and spacious, old looking and has a warm feeling to it, all rooms have a yellow warmth to it. I keep running, looking for the right rom. Finally, I found it.
"Becca!" I exclaim.
She's already up. She's changed in some of her new clothes, brought her by her owl, Griff, who's sitting on the bed frame. Griff gives me a glare with his solid silver eyes. She looks at me surprised while still brushing her long, curly, wet hair.
"Yeah? What's wrong?" She asks.
"Skia's missing." I pant.
"She's still in the maze?" Becca asks.
"Where else?" I yell.
Becca takes my hand and we sprint out of her hospital room. She's running fully dressed with shoes while I'm running alongside her bare foot in my burnt clothes under my overcoat. I glance to my left and see Fade in his room for a split second while we're running past, he doesn't see me. The room next to him has belongings on the bed but no ones in the room.
"I hope she's safe." Becca huffs as we go down the stairs, taking two steps at a time. Her eyebrows are bushed up, like they always are when she's angry or scared.
I grip her hand tighter. "Me too."

"Stay clear everyone!" A teacher I don't recognise shouts outside the maze.
Students crowd around, peering over other peoples' shoulders to see what's going on. Teachers and 'danger' tape block the entrance to the maze.
"Miss. Bradbury!" Becca shouts, pushing her way to the front. I follow her. "You have to let us back in."
The red-haired teacher laughs but abruptly stops at Becca's facial expression. "You can't be serious; you just got out, didn't you?"
"Please miss, it's an emergency!" I plead.
"Sorry kiddo, we got authorities in there trying to capture this black, horrible creature reported by Mr. Dale."
Becca and I look to each other in fear. "What are they gonna do to her?" Becca asks quickly.
"Probably put it down. Dangerous animal, that creature."
"She isn't a 'creature'!" I shout.
"Come on, Shae, let's go." Becca grabs my shoulder and drags me out of the crowd.
"What the fuck are you doing? We need to find Skia!" The yell travels in a whisper.
"What do you think I'm doing?" She whispers back. "To find Skia, we gotta find Dale."