Page 37 - HEF Pen & Ink 2023

way it was. Her breathing was heavy, and her heart rate was climbing by second. She had to fix this; she had to keep going. She couldn’t just stand here and wallow, while the very fabric of her reality changed before her eyes. She gathered what resolve she had left and continued on.
A left this time. Oh no. The red light that greeted her around the corner was harsh and haunting. Her foot- steps were loud now, as the dead grass crunched beneath her feet. Her peaceful silence was gone, and being alone was more frightening than it was calming. She tried to stop herself, but her thoughts landed on the people she hated, both those that deserved her anger and those that didn’t. She didn’t want to hate her friends, hate her fam- ily. There had to be something else she could hate. She
wouldn’t let her labyrinth control her thoughts any- more. She looked around at the cracked walls, the dead grass on the tunnel floor, the red lights that had started flickering, and it came to her. She hated her labyrinth!
Instantly, the walls behind her shuddered and
rumbled, then started to move. Closer and closer together. Quite literally, clos- ing in on her. She watched
petrified as the tunnel narrowed, until the walls right next to her threatened to swallow her whole. Then she ran. Ran headlong to the end of the tunnel, as fast as her legs would carry her. She skidded to a halt and rounded a corner but didn’t stop running. The walls here were moving too, faster now. She kept sprinting, heart pounding and lungs stinging.
She ran and ran and ran until finally, she couldn’t run anymore. She stopped in the middle of a circle of tunnels. She doubled over in exhaustion, resting her hands on her knees. Many painful breaths later she stood up and looked around. The tunnels surrounding her were barely wide enough to walk in now. The dead grass beneath her feet looked more black than brown, and the lights in every tunnel were dim and faded. She spun in circles several times trying to decide which tunnel to take. She had never been to this part of her labyrinth before, she would’ve recognized it if she had. She was confused and indecisive, and continued to spin in frantic circles. Then, dizzy and disoriented, she looked up to steady herself. She realized
she was standing under a gray light. She had never seen a gray light before.
Almost as soon as she looked at it she started to worry whether she would ever get through her labyrinth. If she would be trapped in it forever, wandering an endless maze of her thoughts, unable to escape. It occurred to her that she was very, very lost. She didn’t know which way to go and there was no one to help. She was afraid of her labyrinth now.
Every light she could see glowed with full vibrance for a fraction of a second before all extinguishing the
next instant, leaving her in impenetrable darkness. She screamed and buried her face in her hands. It was useless to try to navigate the labyrinth now, she’d never be able
to find her way in the dark. She collapsed to the ground and hugged her knees to her chest. Then the tears came, gushing down her cheeks, silent at first then accompa- nied by sobs and shudders. Her whole body shook with despair and fear and anger. She was completely and utterly alone. No one could help her and she knew no one would care to anyway. She cried so much she
couldn’t breathe.
And she thought too, she couldn’t stop thinking.
She thought about her life. So much of it had been wast- ed, all the opportunities she didn’t take– all the times she didn’t say something she should have or didn’t do some- thing she needed to. There were so many things she could be doing now to make sure she had the right future, the future she wanted. But what if she wasn’t good enough to have that future? She couldn’t handle the pressure now, what would she do when the stakes were higher? If it felt like the end of the world now, what would it feel like tomor- row?
She thought about all the people she loved and how little she actually meant to them. Her friends ignored her or they chose other people. They’d all talk to each other and she always felt separate, left out. All the classes and hang outs she’d spent watching her favorite people have fun without her. If she wanted to be included she had to be the one to make the plans. She was so afraid she was annoying them, she’d ask and ask and ask until she’d
35