Maze

Part Three

Every turn they took they prayed would reveal an opening in the tent to escape the nightmare they were looping through. But each was more disappointing than the last. The incredible art they were admiring before had become a gruesome reminder of what would happen if they could not find a way out. Tessa's mind was racing the fastest with images of various acts of torture they might perform, borrowing ideas from the most gruesome scenes in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies. She had always wondered if she would be able to get out alive from a situation like that, but she did not intend to ever find out. And there she was; running for her life around a freak-show maze with no clue what to expect and her common sense missing, like the character in a slasher film she would watch and yell "hide you stupid fuck!" at.

She thought of her mother and father. Visions of their family trips to the lake, holidays spent playing with her younger cousins while half the adults argued on the side of the Republican candidate for that year, the other half defending the Democratic one, and all the memories she had shared with her friends popped up in her head. These were things she had not thought about in years, but was now cherishing. It was giving her hope, although she was not sure how to best utilize it. She began to think about what she had waiting for her if she made it out alive. There was her business, something that had been just a dream but was very much becoming a reality. She could see it taking off and becoming successful, and herself with kids and a house in a nice neighborhood, sitting on the back porch with the sister she finally made amends with after not having spoken to in years.

They were twins and were rarely ever apart during childhood, spending all their time by each other's side as if there was just one of them who brought a mirror with her everywhere she went. Completely codependent, they were each other's only friend. Then their lives changed drastically. In the beginning of summer before they started sixth grade, their mother had found out she was pregnant. By the end of their first semester, she had a miscarriage.

This had caused a lot of grief between their parents, which turned into arguing and resulted in a divorce. Their mother took custody of Lily, her sister. Their father had custody of Tessa. They had all originally lived together in the center of Vermont, but then the two different pairs moved to opposite sides of the state. The sisters did not see much of each other over the following years except for a few hours at important family gatherings, which rarely happened after their parents split up. But they kept in touch almost every day and had made many plans to find a way to get back together.

They worked hard in high school and focused on their studies. When it was time to pick a college, they applied to the same ones and were both accepted into Connecticut College. The two arranged to be roommates, and when they were reunited they once again became inseparable. That is until they met Brian and Jefferson. They had all lived in the same co-ed dorm hall. Lily had a few classes with Brian and after the first few weeks of the semester, the two were together. They dated for a while, but Tessa remained the single sister. Then jealousy had gotten the best of Tessa, and like most siblings, she wanted the toy her sister was playing with. She had fooled Brian with a well thought out plan involving alcohol and a make-over and stole, what was at the time, the love of her sister's life. It had caused a falling out between Tessa and Lily, which ended in the latter transferring to a college back home and cutting all ties with the former. She had not thought of Lily in a while, but now she intended to call her once this was over. She owed her an apology.

The turn they had taken was a dead end. Rather than getting out of the easiest spot to become cornered by a man with the knife who was chasing them, they rested and caught their breath. Amber needed this break. She was gasping for air, as if there was not enough in the entire atmosphere to fill her lungs. It had been so heavy that it was the only thing any of them could hear. Jefferson placed one hand over her mouth and brought the other one up to his, with only the pointer finger straight, and signaled to all of them to remain quite. He listened carefully and could hear no footsteps.