23. Aspen
ASPEN
After I deposit my shopping in my room, I decide to take a walk through the grounds, looking for a good spot to set up and draw for a couple of hours while I still have the light.
I reach the overgrown maze. From a distance, it had looked like it was completely impassable, but now I’m closer, I discover that’s not true.
Yes, it’s overgrown, but the pathways between the bushes have plenty of space to walk between.
I guess it might change the deeper into the maze I get, but I’m curious now, and I want to take a look.
I haven’t been into a maze since I was a child, and even that had been a corn maze, so it hadn’t felt like the real thing.
Smiling, I walk between the box bushes. A clear blue sky is overhead, and there’s still warmth in the sun. I feel like skipping and squealing—I’m going on an adventure. After so much weight on my shoulders over the past few months, I’m enjoying doing something fun and childlike.
I have to duck under a few overgrown branches, but the pathway through the bushes is reasonably clear. I take a left, and then a right, and head deeper into the maze.
I turn one way, but it’s a dead end, the green foliage of the bushes are completely closed off.
Damn. I turn to go back the way I’ve just come only to reach another dead end.
I frown. I was sure I’d come through this way.
My heart rate picks up a little, the first threads of worry winding their way through me.
This is stupid. It’s only a maze. I’m not lost. I must have missed a turn a little way back.
With no choice, I go back on myself again and hit a junction. I’m sure I’m walking toward the outer point of the maze and not heading deeper, but then the pathway does a hard turn, and suddenly I’m no longer so sure.
I take my phone out of my pocket, but my cell hasn’t picked up more than a single bar of service since the first night I arrived. I’m not even sure why I’m still carrying it with me, except to take photographs of things I might like to draw later.
Something else occurs to me. What if the correct turn was overgrown? I might have thought it was a dead end when really it was just a few extra branches of greenery hiding the way?
I go back again, this time using my hands to try to manipulate the position of the bushes.
The foliage is hard and spikey, and soon enough my hands are scraped and pinpricked with blood.
The hedges tower above me, and, as the minutes tick by, I’m feeling more and more hedged in—no pun intended.
My panic continues to rise, and I want to scream in frustration.
If only I could find something tall to stand on, so I could see over the top of the bushes and make sure I’m at least heading in the right direction.
The problem with a maze is that there is no right direction.
I pick up my pace, hoping that walking quickly will mean this whole nightmare will be over sooner.
I rationalize with myself that I’m not going to be lost in here forever, that Blake will notice I’m not at dinner and come looking for me, but the claustrophobia and anxiety that has me in its grip means I’m not thinking straight.
I feel like the maze is changing, that it’s drawing its branches across and hiding the exits from me.
I know that idea is crazy, but it’s how I feel, like I’ll be lost in here forever.
I have an even crazier idea that the maze is no longer a part of the real world and has instead transported me to a different plane.
I picture Blake calling my name and me shouting back to him, but he’s unable to hear me because I’m like a ghost.
Sudden footsteps crunch behind me.
I spin around, fully expecting to find someone else standing there, but the space is empty.
“Hello?”
My voice sounds too loud, and I wince.
I hold my breath, bracing myself for a reply, but none comes. Had I imagined the footsteps, the crunch on the gravel behind me? All my senses are on high alert. Perhaps it was one of those crows in the bushes, squabbling over some prize it had found?
With my heart still racing, I keep going. It feels hopeless, but what choice do I have?
Every so often, I take my phone out of my pocket and check it, ever hopeful, but no bars show.
Another footstep falls somewhere behind me, the crack of twigs under a heavy boot unmistakable.
I gasp and spin around again. The path is empty. Someone is following me, watching me. I’m sure of it. They’re using all the twists and turns and corners to keep themselves hidden.
“Levi, is that you?” He’s the only one I can think of who’d want to mess with me like this. “I’m not in the mood for any of your stupid games.”
But what about the person in the cabin in the woods? The prepper. Could it be him? Blake warned me we weren’t alone out here, but I haven’t seen any signs of the other man nor really given him any thought.
Until now.
Had someone seen me enter the maze and followed me?
I pick up my pace. My heart knocks clumsily against my ribcage.
I’m barely keeping the panic down. Can I just shove through the bushes to make my way to the other side?
They’re thinner in some places than others.
Or perhaps I can climb over the top of them?
Surely anything is better than this continuous wandering.
I’m wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans, so most of my body is covered. I can handle a few more scratches if it means I’m free of this place. I wish I’d never come in here.
I pull the sleeves of my t-shirt as far down over my hands then walk the length of one of the bushes, trying to find the best spot.
I still have my sketch pad with me, so I tuck it under my arm, though it does occur to me that I might be able to use it like a shield.
But I’m more worried about tearing the pages than I am my own skin.
I’ve only got a few sketch pads here at the hotel, and the type of paper I like to use isn’t the sort you can just pick up at a regular store.
Taking a deep breath, I wedge my foot into the hedge then reach up to try to find a branch strong enough to pull myself up on.
It’s sharp and spiky, but I’m not going to give up.
I climb up into the hedge, craning my neck for just a peek over the top, but deep down hoping I can climb through or over it.
The twigs spike into my chest and stomach, but I’m off the ground now.
I’ll throw myself over the top of this damned thing if I have to.
Suddenly, the branch my right foot is wedged on snaps, and I fall face first into the hedge. A twig catches my cheek and snags my skin. I let out a cry of alarm and pain.
I scramble out of the hedge and scream in frustration. Something hot and wet trickles to the corner of my mouth, and I poke out my tongue.
Blood.
I still sense someone watching me, though I’m sure they’re hiding.
“If someone’s there, why won’t you help me?”
No response comes… not that I was expecting one.
I raise my voice, hoping to be heard if Blake is still working on the house, though I’m sure he’s too far away.
“Help! Please, help me! I can’t find my way out.”
Tears stream down my face.
Overhead, the sky no longer looks quite as blue, and the temperature is dropping. The chance that I’ll be stuck out here when it gets dark jumps into my head. The possibility is terrifying. It gets dark fast out here, too. One moment it’s dusk, and then it’s like someone shuts off the lights.
I’m not going to get through the hedges, or over them either; I have to admit that to myself. I’ve got no choice other than to keep walking. Surely, I’ll have to find my way out eventually? I’ve never heard of someone becoming trapped and dying in one of these things. They’re supposed to be fun.
I’ve never had less fun.
I walk, and the darkness closes in. The hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand to attention, and my skin erupts in goosebumps. I’m scared, and that realization only makes me cry harder.
I take my cell phone back out and use the flashlight app to illuminate the way.
It’s almost worse than being in the dark.
The light creates a strange kind of tunnel ahead of me, narrowing my vision.
It’s as though the expanse of hedgerows on either side no longer exist. Still, I can’t stand the thought of being trapped in the dark either.
At least my phone has a decent amount of battery left on it because of how little I’ve been using it recently.
I’m sure I hear someone breathing behind me.
I spin around, but just like before, no one is there.
I can sense them, though, the weight of their gaze on me.
Now they don’t only have the bushes hiding them, they also have the blessing of the dark.
What do they want from me? Whatever it is, it can’t be good.
They must have witnessed my distress and still decided to do nothing.
I keep going, moving to a fast walk, and then a trot, and, giving in to panic, finally a run.
Footsteps thud behind me as they give chase.
The heat of their breath brushes the back of my neck, but each time I glance over my shoulder, no one is there.
Can I outrun them? The maze twists and turns, and I just keep going, my breath a whistle in my lungs, my pulse thumping in my ears.
The darkness is thick now, the swath of light from my phone bobbing in the dark as I run.
My foot catches on something, and I trip but somehow manage to stay upright.
Suddenly, I burst through an opening to discover the grand building of the hotel directly in front of me, and I slam into a body.
A scream erupts from my mouth, and hands grab my arms.
“Hey, stop. What’s happened? What’s wrong.”
It’s Blake. Only Blake. Not some stranger who’s been chasing me through the maze.
I’m crying so hard I can barely speak. “So—someone—chase—chasing me.”
His eyebrows knit together in a frown. “What? Someone was chasing you? Who?”
I shake my head and frantically glance back over my shoulder as though I expect to see my stalker burst out of the maze behind me. “I don’t know. I didn’t see him. I was in the maze. I got lost.”
His tone hardens. “What were you doing in the maze? I told you it was completely overgrown.”
I swipe the tears from my face with the heel of my hand. “I’m sorry. It didn’t look too bad until I got deeper in, and then I couldn’t find my way out again. It was like the bushes kept closing over the exits, hiding them from me.”
He shoots me a look that makes me feel like I’m crazy. “The bushes can’t do that, Aspen.”
“No, I know that. I didn’t mean…”
There’s no point in trying to explain myself. Nothing I say sounds right, and I know I must look a complete mess. My hair has come out of its ponytail and is in a bird’s nest around my face, complete with pieces of twig and leaves. My face is streaked with tears, and my nose is stuffy.
“God, you’re bleeding.”
He almost touches my cheek then stops himself at the last minute.
I touch it myself and bring back fingers smeared with blood. “I’d forgotten about that. I caught it on a stick or something when I was trying to climb through the bushes.”
“Jesus.”
He shakes his head as though he’s disappointed with me, and my heart sinks.
He peers over my shoulder. “Who did you say was chasing you?”
Now I’m away from the maze and in Blake’s company, my belief in hearing footsteps and another person’s presence fades.
I shake my head, a fresh tear slipping down my cheek, stinging the wound with its salt. “No one… nothing. Forget I said anything.”
I am such a fucking idiot.