The Murder Maze

Chapter 14

Once they had finished with the wrapping of the cut, they quickly began discussing a more pressing issue, how in the world were they supposed to get out of the maze? There seemed to be absolutely no way out, unlike in the bad mazes you'd find in the town fair that came around every once in a while. Suddenly out of nowhere, the usually quite Iyan spoke up,

"There might be a way out.". Foxy turned to Iyan as she'd never seen him before.

"Oh, hi. Who might you be?". She spoke to him in a friendly tone as she noticed that he had yet to attack any of the people that had met him before her, she was also raised to judge only after knowing the person.

"My name is Iyan Mcnamera". He spoke to Roxanne the same way he had spoken to Graypaw, Crowheart Dar and Clucker as he placed the metal key, he seemed to cherish so much, back into his pocket. Roxanne noticed straight away that Iyan had some kind of condition and she also knew which one it was,

"Do you have autism Iyan?". She asked him in a gentle tone as to not startle him, the last thing she wanted to do was to get him all riled up for a simple question. Iyan responded simply,

"Yes I do.". Iyan didn't give the impression of being embarrassed of his autism as he wasn't afraid to admit it, even if it would have been hard to hide if he'd tried.

"I see. Do you mind physical touch or does that make you uncomfortable?". Foxy could easily say that this was one of the most vital questions to ask to someone with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), they all have different preferences but the dislike of physical touches is quite common.

"I don't like it, it makes me very uncomfortable.". Foxy nodded her head and turned back to the group but before she could speak Iyan asked a question,

"Why do you care for her so much?". He asked with an innocent look on his face and a small smile on his lips. Grayson had a vague idea of what he was saying but he didn't want to believe it.

"What?". The way he said 'what' was in a quiet threatening tone but that didn't stop Iyan from pursuing his question,

"She's almost dead, why are you trying so hard to keep her alive?". It was a strange question but usually people with autism tend to have a hard time bonding with people and making social connections.

"We saved her because she's our friend and we care about her.". Graypaw sounded mad when he replied to Iyan's question.

"I'm sorry. I've never had friends to care for me so I don't know how I should act around other people.". He did sound slightly sad when he said that but even his apology wasn't enough to calm down the now mad Graypaw. Foxy felt the need to interfere before this evolved further.

"Graypaw it's fine, don't take it to heart and Iyan, it's okay, don't worry about it.".

"By the way Foxy, how did you know it was autism?". Crowheart Dar who was standing by her side was quite curious as he never would've guessed, not in a million years.

"A while ago, I volunteered at a center for children with mental disabilities like autism so I had to do some research. I also spent a lot of time with children with ASD so I learnt a lot then too. He speaks quite similarly to a lot of the children, an abnormal tone of voice with an odd rhythm or pitch. That's one of the major indicators. Anyways we need to get out of here, you said that you might know a way Iyan because I think I might know one too?". Iyan looked back at her and was about to answer before he was cut off by Graypaw,

"We'll get right to that but before I just have a question for Crowheart over there.". He slowly put Foxy onto the support of her own arms and got up to match eye level with Crowheart Dar.

"Yeah, what's up bro?". Crowheart Dar replied in his usual way, he was obviously no expecting a fight.

"Why did you leave us like that when that psychopath finished talking, at the very beginning". Graypaw crossed his arms and looked straight into his eyes. Darius looked quite shocked at the question,

"Are you kidding. I left because I wanted to survive obviously. Did you actually think I was going to sit by idly and just wait for that Lizzie girl to kill me? There was no plan we could have possibly made that would have made any of this avoidable". Crowheart Dar answered with just as much viciousness as Graypaw and a fight broke out. Both boys were throwing insults at each other which was very out of character for both but especially for Graypaw. When Heather noticed that the fight was not going to end anytime soon, she jumped into it and tried to calm them down but nothing was working. Foxy who was on the floor let out a disappointed sigh, she knew it wouldn't be long before the maze began to change them. She glanced at Iyan who was watching the fight go down. He was clearly uneasy; his knees reached his chin and in his hands there was the small metal key that he prized. He rubbed it back and forth as a mean to calm himself down as much as possible but it was no use. Unless they calmed down, there was no chance that Iyan would.