The Garden of Heathen

The Search Begins

Everyone was gathered at the Maze doors, nervously waiting for them to open. No one seemed less keen on going than Aris did, he looked absolutely mortified. Aussie didn't know if it was because of the maze itself or because of Gally, but if she were in his shoes she'd be more afraid of Gally. Aussie herself was scared for them. She knew she'd be sitting at the door all day agonizing over whether or not they'd return. She hated it already.

All of them but Aris were armed in some way, which was better than nothing, but after seeing the creatures even what they had felt like nothing. Joan seemed to realize this and turned to Gertie, Georgia, and Aussie who were standing with them. She put her arms around all three at once, squeezing them into one big hug which shocked them all. Joan had seemed like the one who was the least affected by returning to the maze, but this kind of behavior was out of the norm for her. She didn't say anything to them and, when she finally released them, her face was void of emotion as it normally seemed.

After that Gertie was the next one to act out of character as she darted over to Gally, plowed into him hard enough to make him take half a step back, and squeezed him tightly around his middle. After the shock wore off he returned the hug.

"Geez, Gert," he chuckled, trying to make it sound light hearted despite his nerves. "It's not like I'm going off to war."

"It kind of is like that actually," She said as she looked up at him. "And I need you to win the war and come back, ok?"

Gally glanced at Aussie, as if she'd tell him how to respond to that.

"I will," he said as he ruffled her wild curls. "I promise. I still have a lot to do."

She seemed to accept his assurances and pulled away just to be replaced by Aussie, getting another hug in while she could. She didn't give Aris a single glance even as he fidgeted nervously. The Garden was filled with the rumblings of the opening doors as the two of them held each other tightly. Finally she had to let him go. He took one last look at her face before he ran after the others into the maze.

Aussie had to fight the urge to follow after them, stopping after she took a few steps and her toes crossed the threshold of the maze. She watched until they reached the end of the corridor and turned the corner and were out of site. Aussies eyes stayed fixed on that corner as they started to fill with tears. She had gotten so used to having Gally around all the time, available and easily found within the small space of the Garden, that she felt like a hole had formed in her chest when he left. It felt wrong, all wrong. It felt like a dream, like she was waking up from the dream of him to the nightmare of life without him.

"He was real, right?" She whispered to herself.

"What?" Gertie's voice came, startling her.

Aussie turned to see that Gertie had stayed with her standing beside her but a step back.

"Oh," Aussie felt embarrassed for having been overheard saying something so insane sounding, worried she might be just as bad off in the head as Mary ever was. "it- it's nothing."

"He's real," Gertie said anyway, in case she had heard her right after all.

They continued to stand there, staring into the maze as minutes ticked by.

"I think..." Gertie spoke up a little unsure of herself. "I think I knew him... before."

Aussie didn't move or speak, just stayed there with her until she was ready to say what she wanted to say.

"I think that I... I guess I kind of love him- not the way you do of course, I just think he's important to me," Gertie explained, making Aussie's eyebrows go up as she slowly turned to look at her.