"Baby, wake up, we're here," you whisper while unbuckling your six year old from her car seat. Every October since she was born, you've brought Elliot to this same pumpkin patch. It was almost a two hour drive, but it was definitely worth it. This place has everything: pony rides, carnival games, a petting zoo, a corn maze and anything else you could want.
"Pumpkins?" she asks groggily, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"Yes, El, pumpkins. You ready?" She reaches her arms out to you and you lift her up out of her car seat, setting her down next to the car. You pull out her puffy coat and thread he arms through the sleeves, topping things off with her favorite orange beanie. Picking her up into your arms, you head towards the entrance as she starts to list everything she wants to do.
"First ponies then the corn then doughnuts then goats then-"
"Whoa, slow down, killer," you stop her. "We'll get to it all I promise, but you know we always have to do the corn maze first."
"Yeah, just like you and daddy did!" Ten years ago, your boyfriend took you to this exact pumpkin patch for the first time. The two of you would come back every year and you always had to start in the corn maze. He proposed to you when you were pregnant with Elliot, but he passed away in a car accident before she was born. You promised yourself that you would make sure she always knew about her dad. Going on your annual pumpkin patch trip is one of the ways you keep his memory alive for the both of you. "You ready for this?"
"Let's do this!" she shouts as you set her on the ground. The two of you make your way towards the back of the patch where the entrance to the corn maze is. She takes off a few feet ahead of you and you follow quickly behind.
"Hey, you know the rules. If you can't see me I can't see you, so no getting to far ahead, okay?
"Okay, okay, let's go!"
"We're going, we're going," you laugh, following her lead. The two of you wander around countless corners and hit a handful of dead ends, but that's half the fun. You follow her around a corner only to hit another dead end. "Uh oh, not another. I guess-" you stop your sentence short when you look down and notice your daughter is not in front of you anymore. You turn around thinking she might've snuck by you, but you backtrack around a few corners and there's still no sign of her.
"Elliot?" you call, starting to panic a bit. "Elliot! This isn't funny," you shout a bit louder looking into the stalks of corn, thinking she might be hiding. "Elliot Ann, if you are trying to scare me it's working so you can come out now!!" you yell.
A group of older kids run past you and you search desperately for your daughter, but she's nowhere to be found. Now you're really panicking and have no idea what to do. You've never lost her before, let alone lost her in a maze for fucks sake. Do you try to find the end and hope she's made her way out? She's six there's no way she'll find her way out of a god damn corn maze!
"Elliot!" you shout not knowing what else to do, tears coming to your eyes. You've never felt so helpless in your life. "Why me?" you ask the universe, looking up towards the sky and that's when you see it. A tiny orange beanie pops up right above the tops of the corn. "El!" The little beanie seems to turn to face in your direction. "Don't move, baby, I'm coming!"
You ignore the path completely and push your way through the corn stalks, making a bee line towards your daughter. You come out of the thick of it, running right into a wall. Turns out, it isn't a wall, but a thick flannel jacket.
"Shit, sorry," you say with your head down, trying to make your way around the stranger to find your daughter.
"Mommy!" you hear like angles calling from above. You follow the voice up and turns out it is a literal angel from above. Your daughter is sitting on the shoulders of a total stranger, but you honestly couldn't care less at the moment. All that mattered is you found her. The man reaches up and pulls your little girl up and off of his shoulders and places her into your arms. You hold her tight to your chest, squeezing her half to death.
