Minataro

Chapter 4: A Maze

We all walked inside, and it was only then the pang of complete nervousness finally hit me. I felt numb from the stomach, and suddenly felt myself breathing faster. It wasn't the sight, but the reality. How long am I going to be here? Where are we, anyways? Is this place really trustworthy?

"Nache!", said Herbert, patting me on the back so hard, I nearly fell over. "Nache, snap outta'f it!"

I shook my head and glared at him. "W-what?"

Herbert gestured forward. I turned my head, and there was a very tall man dressed in black staring down at me. He appeared so suddenly! And he didn't look very happy.

"I've been speaking to you for the past 4 minutes, young boy. But, I suppose I'll repeat my questions..."

It was then I saw a small board in his hand with a piece of paper on it. There was writing on it. He picked up his pencil again, and cleared his throat.

"Name?", He stated.

"Uh... er, Nache Jack Carson...", I stammered out.

"Age?"

"14"

"Weight?"

"Uh... 125 pounds?"

The man scribbled the information down, and sniffed as if his nose were stuffy or something.

"Do you have any records of depression, anxiety, phobias, chronic nightmares, or lightheartedness?"

"Not that I know of...", I answered, confused. "I don't like being in tight spaces, spiders, or falling though. Those count as phobias, right?"

The man said nothing, but wrote a bit more on his paper, then smacked the pencil against the board.

"Alright then. Follow Mina-Guard Valerie to your assigned rooms."

I looked around, and sure enough, there was a chubby, young lady standing from a distance. She waved at us cheerfully, and beckoned for us. She then walked into a different hallway. We all grabbed our things and ran after her, not wanting to get lost.

We caught up to her in just a few seconds.

Herbert was extremely out of breath, however. "Gosh, lady, wait up fer a man 'erry once in a while!"

She didn't answer, and just kept on walking. A few minutes later, she came to a very sudden stop at a dark gray door. The entire hallway had dark gray doors, all numbered. It reminded me of a hotel.

She opened the door, and let me and Jonny in. Just before Herbert walked in, she slammed the door shut.

"'EY!", he squealed from the other side of the door. "WHAT'S THAT ALL 'BOUT, WOMAN?"

That was all we heard from him. After that, there was total silence. Jonny and I looked at each other in fear.

"W-what happened to him?", asked Jonny, as if I would know.

I shrugged, shakily. Jonny started to reach for the doorknob, but then a hand came out and slapped his arm away.

"OW! SOMETHING BIT ME!", he shrieked, holding his arm in pain.

"Nothing bit you, nimrod!", said a young boy, about six. He had bright blond hair, a billion freckles, and only one front tooth. He looked very angry, as if we did something seriously wrong. "Don't open the door!"

Jonny and I looked at him, a bit afraid.

"Why?", I asked, shivers running down my spine.

The boy's face turned from anger to sadness. "They don't like it when you open the doors. We don't know why.

".... we?", simpered Jonny, still holding his arm.

I turned around, and to my surprise, there were lots of boys behind us. All sorts of faces made up a crowd of about 10. Brown hair, orange hair, dark skin, light skin, and even a few kids with a great height completed the crowd. I felt a bit safer around them, for some reason.

"You're in room 18. We're your roommates.", said the small freckled boy. "I'm Walter, and I was the first one here! So I'm the leader."

"No one elected you!", shouted a kid from the crowd.

"Quiet! Your leader has spoken!", Walter shouted back.

I smiled and shook my head. "Well, no offense, but you don't seem old enough to be a 'leader'. I mean, you seem to be only six!"

Walter looked at me, offended. "I'm 13!"

My face blushed in embarrassment. "Oh... sorry, you're just so--"

"Small?", Walter completed for me. "I know. It's because my folks never fed me." He then walked away, but gesturing us to follow. I started after him, Jonny right behind me.

"You guys can sleep here!", Walter said, pointing to two gray cots. They both had old brown pillows on them, and a thin white blanket. This place looked more like a prison to me. I felt the worried feeling in my gut again.

Jonny and I dropped our luggage near the beds. Then I turned back to the crowd of boys.

"So... where are we anyways? This doesn't seem like a contest to me...", I said.

A bunch of the boys looked at each other in confusion. A pale ginger boy with huge blue eyes and glasses spoke up.

"A few of us are thinkin' it's kind of like an Olympics for kids, and the winner gets a bunch of chocolate!"

"Only you think that...", Said a really tall boy, who looked almost like an adult. The only thing that made him look like a kid was his obvious baby face. "I personally think it's auditions for a play."

A wider kid shook his head. "It would've said it's a play on the flyers if so. My sister and I had a few ideas on the ways over here. She thought it was a new hotel for us kids, and we were testing it out!"

A lot of the boys seemed to like that conclusion, and started chatting about it, revealing their fantasies with one another. I shook my head.

"But they clearly stated it's a contest, didn't they? This must be something.... like suppose a talent show?", I said.

The boys froze, and then burst with excitement, dismissing ideas of a hotel, and instead, talking about their talents.

"I can shoot a bow from 18 miles away, and make a perfect bulls eye!", bragged one boy.

"Oh yeah? Well, I can run so fast, I leave a trail of smoke behind me!", stated another.

"That's stupid, you're stupid. I, however, can sing like an angel, or so my mother says.", announced yet another.

"SHUT UP!", screamed Walter. He had a lot of anger for someone so small. In fact, he was the shortest person in the room. "A talent show? Seriously? What, do you guys think this is a schoolhouse? Think we might get recess, a lunch break, and nap time too? This place feels odd, don't you think? I mean, if this place was to be one of fun, games, joy, and happy times, wouldn't they have told us? You think we'd be locked in these rooms, waiting for whoever knows what will happen? Remember when you opened the doors, Kaleb, and they smacked your arm with a ruler?"

A boy named Kaleb looked at his arm, which was red. He really DID get smacked. He shook his head solemnly, like a kicked puppy.

"That's as I thought," said Walter. He got up on a bed, to make himself a bit taller. "No. I think this is something worse. Now, I don't want to alarm you fellows. I want us to stay happy, and calm. But, I think we should also expect the worse. This place doesn't feel right in your guts, does it?"

I felt my stomach, knowing exactly what he was talking about. A lot of the boys did the same.

"I think we're here for something much more sinister.", Walter said, a grim look in his eyes.