Maze

Part One

Wednesday, October 30th, 2013. 9:47PM. In a second story, one bedroom apartment in Middletown, Connecticut, a group of three sat patiently while they waited to start what would turn out to be a very memorable night; but not one that would be looked back on with fondness. On the right side of the hand-me-down couch sat Brian with his fiance, Tessa, to his left. The distance between them was occupied by their arms, which had been extend out towards each other and met in the middle, where a pathetic excuse for hand holding took place. Opposite to them, on the love seat with a busted spring that made it next to impossible to sit on comfortably, was one of Tessa's work friends, Amber. A joke had just been told that filled the room with laughter but was followed by a silence they shared, waiting for something to break the tension. Almost on cue, Jefferson had opened the front door and entered the apartment, a copy of last week's local newsletter in his hand, crumpling from the tightness of his grip.

"So you guys gonna pussy out or what?" Jefferson said, slapping the paper down onto the coffee table in the middle of all of them, nearly knocking over the three day old unfinished to-go cup of a coffee beverage that was more sugar than caffeine. The back of the paper was facing up and an ad for 'House of Horrors,' the supposed haunted house of the century, was staring at all of them. In unison they looked at Jefferson, who had his arms crossed in front of his chest and both of his thick black eyebrows raised. This defiant stance was read the same way by all of them: he was not about to take no for an answer.

"Dude we were joking about doing that. We're in our mid-twenties, isn't that a little old to be going to a haunted house?" said Brian, darting his eyes back and forth from Tessa and Jefferson, as if he was looking at her for approval on what he had expressed, and at him hoping he would cave and agree. But he knew Jefferson well, and knew it would not be that easy to get him off the subject. They had spent majority of their lives together. When Brian's aunt had passed away, they took her son, Jefferson, into their home. Although both were raised by the same woman for the better part of their existence, Jefferson had seven years of conditioning before having a chance to be brought up differently, and was therefore much more stubborn than his cousin. And because of a loss at such a young age, the trauma had trapped a child inside an aging body, making it hard to get him to choose to spend his time on more mature activities. Once he sees a flyer for a monster truck rally or, in this case, a haunted house typically marketed towards high school teenagers, the chances of one getting out of going are slim to none. It's either go or listen to him whine about "how much awesomer" lifted trucks crashing into each other is than the wine tasting at the art exhibit downtown.

"Yeah I'm with Brian. Those haunted houses are always the same anyway. You've been to one you've been to them all," Tessa said, giving Brian's hand a little squeeze as if to say "don't worry hun, I'll make sure you don't look like the biggest wimp in the room." But this was not how Tessa really felt and it was obvious to those there who knew her well. She was a horror fanatic, and a haunted house was right up her alley. Although agreeing with her significant other and staying a shut in was a lot simpler than having it turn into another argument once their guests leave.

"C'mon Tessa, I know you are with me on this one. You're really going to tell me out of all the people I know, you don't want to go to a haunted house? You don't have to side with Brian just cause you don't want him to humiliate himself when he screams like a lil' bitch." Jefferson knew the look Brian had on his face. He knew Brian's eyes were focused on nothing but him, like he was a bug under a magnifying glass. And his anger was like a source of light, which burned Jefferson through his stare. But he did not pay any mind to Brian. Instead he directed his attention to Amber, who had been sitting there with an anxious half-smile and folded hands.

"Why don't we get the input from the lady I came here for tonight, who I haven't even introduced myself to! So rude of me, please beg my pardon m' lady, I'm the one who goes by Jefferson." He pinched the ends of an imaginary skirt and performed a less than delicate curtsy, then held out his hand to Amber, who looked at it for a second before reaching out to shake it. Her bony hand cracked faintly when it was placed in his firm grip. The meeting of the two was arranged by Tessa, who was attempting to kill two birds with one stone by introducing her single coworker to her lover's cousin as a means to bring Amber out of her shell and end her shyness, which Tessa pitied, and Jefferson's constant presence in her apartment due mostly to the lack of a social life. And a personal life.