Mary's Bones

FIFTEEN

It felt as if the maze was thinning in on us the deeper we walked. John had no choice but to lag behind me. I had convinced him to walk through with me, and now I was regretting it. Nice going, Angie, I scolded myself. I wished I could squeeze his hand as tight as I wanted to when my fear got the best of me, but I couldn't. It sucked.

"This maze is so creepy." I folded my arms, teeth chattering from the wind.

Bones torn apart from skeletons dressed the tall, thick bushes down to the root. They were practically sewn into the bushes, ready to terrify the next oncomer. Some of the bones were so well-done I shivered every time I looked at them.

John placed his hand on my lower back, guiding me through the darkness. "That means they did their job then." He laughed. "There's no way you're scared of this little maze, are you?"

"Little? This maze is huge! This garden is huge!" I seethed. "I can handle horror on a screen. I never said I could handle horror in reality."

John knelt over in laughter. "Well, that's why I'm here to protect you."

"Not funny." I shot him a glare.

We pivoted deeper into pitch black the further into the maze we traveled. A few rows over, voices seeped through the bushes. It'd been so quiet, I almost forgot we were surrounded by other people in the maze.

"Shit, goodness grief." I nearly pounced out of my skin. My back hit John's chest as a little girl appeared at the end of the path. She paused, her eyes zoning in on us, before giggling and chasing after another voice in the distance.

"Relax, Angie. It's just a little girl. She's harmless," John whispered. His fingers gently dug into my shoulder blades. I relaxed under his touch, slouching back into him.

"I'm sorry, you're right," I said, followed by a sigh.

"Maybe this was a bad idea after all. . ." I could hear him mutter under his breath.

I couldn't blame him. This was my idea, and I was freaking out for no apparent reason. I rolled my eyes at myself. The harder I focused, the more everything around us sprung in detail. I couldn't help it. Well, at least I knew what I wouldn't be doing again. Thankfully, they didn't have people chasing us around.

"We're almost at the end," John announced.

His words became an echo in my head. I should have been happy we were near the end of the maze. I could have been happy. If I didn't get distracted. The mere ounce of blue that caught my attention had me stopping full force.

"What the—" said John, bumping into me.

My eyes strained forward.

The butterfly rounded the corner fast. And something unusual clung to its side. It may have been my eyes playing tricks on me, or so I hoped. But there was no denying what it was. Strands of black hair whipped around the corner, chasing after the butterfly. I would have missed it if not for the length. Her hair was so long it trailed behind her.

I watched her disappear around the bushes into the next row over.

There was something familiar about that little girl. Her presence—not even five seconds my eyes were on her—and my bones rattled with discomfort. I bit my lip anxiously, backing as close as I could to John. His demands for me to tell him what was wrong thinned into silence as I focused on other noises. An almost inaudible giggle rang through my ears.

There was no way it could be what I was thinking. My eyes were deceiving me, and I was just seeing things. But she looked just like her from the back. How? It didn't make sense. I hadn't seen her face. However, based solely on the hair and the back of her body, I was sure the dots connected perfectly. She was an identical copy of Mary.