Finding Maisie

Finding Maisie: Chapter 6

Finding Maisie

Chapter 6

I had never liked mazes. If I ever dared to enter one my breath would shorten, my heart rate quicken, and my eyes widen. I would always feel claustrophobic as l became lost with no hope of finding my way to safety. I would run around them for what felt like hours trying to escape the surrounding walls. As I said, I had never liked mazes. But a funhouse maze whose aim was to scare anyone who entered its premises... worse. But a funhouse maze with the abductor inside... torture.

We arrived at the funhouse maze at precisely two o'clock. Bella was right in saying it would be closed. The area around it was deserted as the queue for the nearest ride was the other side of the building. This would allow us to enter the maze without being seen. I had Callum one side of me, acting as my shield. I tried to convince myself that while he was by my side everything would be fine. We wouldn't be hurt. Of course, that was only wishful thinking. Bella was on the other side of me. From what I knew of her, she was incredibly brave. To have not ran away screaming at the first sight of the abductor showed her guts. She looked surprisingly calm as I analysed her. Then again, she must have been bold, or too kind for her own good, to stick around with Callum and me.

I looked to the building in front of me and cowered. A funhouse. I could already see it now. The mirror maze, the jumping figures, the ball pits, the abductor. I noticed wooden painted clown faces nailed on to the building. Oh, joy. My second biggest fear? Clowns. Their grins pierced down onto me as I stared into their faces. Most would say they were grins of happiness, of fun. Some would agree with me when I said they were grins of evil. Their eyes seemed to bore into mine as if they could read my mind, see my darkest secrets.

'Why the sad face?' Callum asked me, pulling a smirk. 'I thought you loved mazes.'

'Oh, I just adore them,' I remarked. 'I'm just sad thinking about all the time wasted this morning when we could've been in here.'

I gave Callum a light shove which he returned promptly. Then he turned to Bella.

'It's not too late to leave, you know.'

'Yes it is,' Bella replied. 'I think the second the abductor saw me he was planning my death. He knows that I could tell the police. At least this way, I'll try and help bring his downfall.'

She sounded positive. In no way did I think that we could or would bring down the downfall of the abductor, at least not today anyway. I was only entering the maze because he told me to. I was obliged to follow his instructions as he had hold of Maisie. We had no idea of what the abductor was capable of at the moment or any idea of who he was to successfully plan his downfall.

'Thank you,' Callum replied. 'What do we do now?'

'I guess we wait for him,' I said, sitting down on the nearest bench.

Bella and Callum soon joined me. I looked at the "funhouse" maze one more time. Every time I eyed it my whole body screamed for me to run and save myself. Don't be stupid, just leave and you'll be safe but stay and you will die, it yelled. I wasn't surprised at this feeling. Following the abductor's instructions had only led me to misery in the past. At the warehouse when we had followed the abductor, I almost died. At the field when I had followed the abductor, oh I almost died again. And today when I had followed him into the storage building, what had happened? Oh wait, hang on a second, I almost died... Again. So I didn't blame myself for feeling nervous. I would have been ridiculous not to.

The dreaded sound of my phone buzzing put me on red alert. I only got texts from three people; Callum, my mum, and the abductor. As Callum was sitting next to me right now it was between my mum and the abductor, no prize for guessing who it was from. I opened the message from the unknown number and showed it to Callum and Bella.