Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 144(@200wpm)___ 115(@250wpm)___ 96(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 144(@200wpm)___ 115(@250wpm)___ 96(@300wpm)
“Probably in our sleep.” I lied and started stretching for no damn good reason, why would I need to stretch to walk through a maze and solve a brain puzzle?
Have I mentioned I hate puzzles?
Shit.
“I hate them,” I grumbled under my breath.
“Max? The company? Trees? You’ll have to be specific.” She stood at the starting line, her toe right behind the white chalk like she was getting ready for a track and field championship.
I made a face. “Trees? Who hates trees?” I gave it a thought.
She sighed. “I know, actually bad example, I misspoke, trees are the best, they give us oxygen.”
“Wood!”
“Paper!” I added.
“Shelter!” she shouted.
“Maple.” I felt the need to say so I had the last word.
“Yup.” She stretched her arms across her body. “Not to mention, some are edible.”
I smirked down at my shoes. “Are we doing that thing where we’re distracting ourselves from the big thing with little mind numbing things so we don’t both pass out or run in the other direction?”
“Absolutely.”
“Cool, just making sure we were on the same page.”
“I’m currently living on that page, afraid to turn it, and am petrified there will be no end to the actual book that says, and they lived happily ever after and didn’t get eaten by the bears Dustin was so scared of.”
“Only the beginning.” God, why did I even said that?
Slowly, she turned to me. “That wasn’t encouraging.”
“I’m aware, or was made aware, only after I said it and it was too late, so I can’t even apologize, shit.” I stared back ahead. “The maze looks pretty short but I’m sure that’s all fake, how good are you with making your way around shrubbery?”
Her eyebrows arched. “How good are you at making your way around… shrubbery?”
I smirked, it was involuntary, I swear. “I manscape.”
“Is that to make your penis look bigger or for a little me time in the bathroom when you’re—“
I clapped a hand over her mouth. “Take it back.”
“In three!” Max shouted.
“Shit,” we said in unison as I pulled my hand away.
“Two!” Max added. “One!”
The horn in his hand went off and so did we, at a very painful pace through the entrance of the maze. Shrubs went in every direction. The Emory Games was painted in giant red letters on white paper stretching across the entrance, but some of the paint dripping looked like blood.
So. Very. Promising.
“Left, right or middle?” I asked out loud in a panic.
Bri looked down the middle, then to the left and right. “Normally in mazes it’s the left, don’t ask me why I know this, it was a traumatic event at a corn maze, and I demanded answers. I was seven.”
“Damn.”
“They had to shut it down. Point is, I think we should go to the left. Any objections?”
“Lead the way, Halloweentown.”
“Very funny.” She gave me the finger and off we went, down the left side and immediately hit a wall, forcing us to take a right, then another left, we were getting closer until we took two lefts and were met with a giant wall that said. “It’s the end of the world as we know it.”
I could have sworn a crow flew by in that moment, circling us, warning us, telling its friends they could feast soon.
I cleared my throat nervously. “Maybe we back up a bit?”
“Yup.” She blindly reached for my hand. I gripped it as we stepped back and went in the other direction and took the right instead of the left.
Another dead end.
“Ughhh!” Bri kicked the dirt with her shoe. “We only have a few minutes to get through the maze and make it to the escape room!”
And then another thirty minutes of hell, one had to ask oneself, was it really worth it? But we were holding hands and working together, and it was nice despite the creepy factor. Plus, we weren’t that far from the end of the maze, we just needed to find one last loop to get to the cement stairs of the entrance.
I looked around. Left was clearly the way to go, maybe we went too fast. “Okay, hear me out, let’s just retrace one more turn back, maybe we should have gone straight instead on the last one before this one?”
Bri sighed and looked both directions, then back up at me. “Okay, but remember the straight way looked really dark and creepy.”
My stomach sank to my feet. “Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of, if Max is in charge, who in the ever-loving hell would choose the dark and creepy route?”
She rested her head against my shoulder. Lightning struck my skin in that moment, the way she felt against me, helpless, like she needed me, was intoxicating, I could almost forget about the puzzle as she rested for a few seconds then started leading the way.
I almost tripped over my feet when I followed her, then was reminded that I was that guy, the one that would have followed her anywhere.