You wake up one morning and find that you aren’t in your bed; you aren’t
even in your room. You’re in the middle of a giant maze. A sign is
hanging from the ivy: “You have one hour. Don’t touch the walls.” You hear a beep that comes from the stopwatch on your wrist and it begins to countdown from 60 minutes. You pause. Is this a dream? Is this real? How did I even get here? You start moving forward surrounded by the dark leafy bushes creating your walls. "Why can't I touch the walls? Why is that the only rule?"As you continue moving forward panic starts to set in. You have no idea how long this maze will go on for. Should you be running? Is anyone else in this maze with you? You begin to pick up your pace, coming to a light jog, kicking the dirt beneath your feet. The broken record continues to play in your mind "I have no idea where I'm going, I have no idea where I will end up, why can't I touch these walls?"
At this point whether or not this is a dream or reality is irrelevant. Because the only true home you have is your mind, and your mind is in this maze. So this maze is where you will remain for the next 50 minutes.
You notice you've never come to a fork in the road. The path just continues twisting and weaving but with no options other than to follow the path before you. "Should I run quicker? Where am I going?"
As you run you begin to notice the bushes ahead have tiny golden flowers blooming. The maze is transforming and the ground is covered in a shiny silver green moss. The bushes begin to grow taller around you which forces you to look up. The sky is filled with the most beautiful colors you have ever seen. It seems that every possible weather option is taking place simultaneously.
The sun is shining bright, but inside the sun you see a sunset. Next to the sun it is raining and storming but the winds beneath the storm keep the rain from falling to the earth. There's a tornado in the sky but it's full of stars and colors. The colors whip and fly out of the tornado and splatter the white fluffy clouds. As the rain blows from the winds onto the clouds they become white again and the color evaporates in mid air. This sight feels familiar though you've never seen anything like it before. It feels like how the sky was always meant to look, it feels nostalgic; like it's what you've been searching for your whole life! And then something touches your shoulder. You gasp.
There's a man standing behind you. He's covered in sweat, but seems full of hope. Your watch beeps that you have 30 minutes. He tells you that you are the first person he's seen in the past 47 hours. He shares that he woke up, saw a sign that said "You have 48 hours. Go."
He's been in here for two days.
This last hour is his hour of hope, while this has been your hour of confusion. You walk side by side silent for a few moments. He's excited to be with another person. This does not satisfy you as much as it satisfies him. and then you ask, "Have you touched the walls?"
He looks at you puzzled. You ask, him in a new way,
"Are you allowed to touch the walls?"
"What do you mean? The bushes? Am I allowed to touch the bushes?" he asks.
"Yes, are you allowed to touch the bushes."
"Oh." He looks puzzled. "Well, I haven't tried to...I've just been trying to get out and have kept running forward, but I guess I could?" he reaches out to pick a flower.
"STOP!" you scream. "WE ARE NOT SUPPOSE TO TOUCH THE BUSHES!" You're ready to hit him at this point.
"Why not?"
"I don't know, but I just know we are not suppose to".
"Okay, but why?"
"I told you, I don't know why"you say, "But we only have 25 minutes left and I'd rather just find the way out".
That hopeful look on his face is replaced with panic. In a moment his exhilaration of almost finishing his race and finding another person is replaced with the anxiety. You notice this shift. He begins to walk more cautiously, slowly, and with trepidation.
"So someone is watching us" he says with a worried look.
He had never considered someone may be watching him. He simply thought his goal was to finish this labyrinth in 48 hours. That the only thing he was dealing with was the strength of his legs and his breath. He says he needs to sit for a moment.
So here you are with this stranger. In a maze. With the only task to complete is to get out. But he sits. You give him 5 minutes of sitting in silence. And you take your time looking back up at the sky.
"Alright, get up".
You encourage him to pick up the pace again with you. You both begin to jog. Turning to the left, sharp turn to the right. The adrenaline picks up and you both are gaining speed weaving to the left, circling to the right. You catch him starring at the walls more and more. He's transfixed. You're still running, nauseous from all the turns. Your watches beep. You have 5 minutes left. You make a sharp and vigorous turn to the right and then you see it. Just a straight and narrow path that goes on for a quarter mile. YOU SEE THE END. You see where the bushes evaporate into a space big enough for two people to fit through side by side.
You both sprint. But he's faster than you. You see as he runs his head move back and forth between the light and the bushes that have now become so close that one stumble would push you into them. His head continues to go back and forth, back and forth. To the bushes, straight ahead, to the bushes, straight ahead.
Then he stops abruptly and you crash into his back and hit the ground hard. You open your eyes, dizzy from the fall; he reaches his arm out and
clenches his hand around the leaves of the wall.
