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When we were finally let in, the people at the entrance gifted each of us with light-up bracelets. Apparently it made it easier for staff and actors to see guests in the dark areas of the maze. Mine glowed green. Hoseok's - red. Yurim picked orange. Jin was given blue and Jimin chose yellow.
When we started into the maze, I hurriedly fetched the paper from my pocket and opened it. My curiosity was burning. It was dark but I used the light of my bracelet to see what was written. When I realized what it was, my eyebrows furrowed.
It was a map to get through the maze. Circles drawn around specific places as well as arrows and instructions. One area which was circled had a note saying, take Yurim and lose us here. Around another area, which was labeled a dead end, was a thickly drawn circle and another inscription that said, STAY AWAY!
"The hell..." I muttered to myself.
But what caught me was the note scribbled at the top right corner next to the exit of the maze. It confirmed my concerns.
As soon as you get out, get her home, it said in bold, underlined letters.
I looked down the path where Hoseok merrily led us. The walls of the maze stretched ahead of me. Suddenly giving off an eerie feeling. As if we were being watched. Yurim, with her hand in Jin's, looked back at me and gave me an encouraging smile. Unbeknownst to just how serious a situation we were in.
So this was why he made sure I came - why he seemed off. I wasn't even going to be here tonight yet here I was looking after her again. All while she had no clue what was going on. Not I even I knew what was going on. Not really. Why couldn't he just explain these things?
I kept the paper safe in my pocket and referred to it every time we turned a corner, making sure I wouldn't miss my cue. After two more corners, we saw it. The hall ahead was obscured by hundreds of noodle shaped inflatables. They showered down from the ceiling to the floor. And according to the map drawn out, it looked like the walls open from a hall to a room with three possible exits. People could definitely lose each other here.
As everyone began entering the obstacle, I moved closer toward Yurim who was still holding Mr. Perfect's hand. That could prove to be problematic.
It was dark and nearly impossible to see and there were strobe lights flashing. This made everything that moved look weird and glitchy. One moment you think you've seen someone and the next they're gone. I pushed heaps of hanging noodles, trying to search for Yurim. This was the place we needed to split off from. I hadn't studied the map long enough to come up with a plan B. I had to find her now!
I thought I lost her, until I saw a flash of orange light.
Her bracelet!
I moved in quickly and snatched her wrist before pulling her toward the right side of the room. Yurim tried calling out to everyone as I led her away, confirming I had grabbed the right person. I breathed with relief. If anyone heard her calls, it wasn't clear as the music was blaring in our ears.
Shortly after, we found the wall then felt our way along it. I patted at the wall frantically before my hand fell through a big space. That's it! The doorway!
We exited into a neon lit hallway where it was clear of obstacles and the music from the confusing room dimmed into the background.
"Yoongi!" Yurim gasped, her eyes wide. I wasn't sure if it was the lights but there seemed to be a pink tint to her skin. "I thought you were... - where is everyone?"
"I guess we got split up," I glanced at the map again, making sure my back was turned to her. "Maybe we'll run into them again. Come on, let's try this way," I said pointing down the left hand corridor, knowing full well it wasn't a random choice.
"Okay," she shrugged.
Yurim followed me without question and with an enthused hop in her step. I only spared a moment to look at the way she took in her surroundings. Her eyes gleamed and hungrily consumed the sight around her. Glad to be on an adventure. The look was almost child-like. I was tempted to just watch her enjoy herself or even join her. After all, I successfully split them up. Wasn't that enough?
But I remembered the alarmingly bold words at the corner of the map. If it were as simple as splitting her up from the rest of the group, Hoseok wouldn't have put so much emphasis on that note. 'Get her home,' it said as though the whole fair itself was a danger zone.
I peeled my eyes from her bright expression and steeled myself against my wants.
Yurim was observing a ticket booth in the wall where an animatronic person sat stamping tickets. I paced back to her and placed a hand on her back to gently lead her forward. I felt like a jerk for pushing her to keep moving when she was trying to enjoy the moment but what else could I do?
"What's with you? Why are you in such a rush?" she asked, amusement leaking into her tone. I didn't meet her gaze as I was too busy checking the map again. "And what is that? It's not a cheat sheet is it?"
I saw her hand in its attempt to snatch the paper away, but I pulled it out of reach before she got the chance. Just barely. "No!" I lied. "Come on, let's keep moving."
I avoided her gaze which I assumed expressed something like suspicion or worry.
Around a corner we reached another fork. On one side was a dark hallway. I knew it was the way out. LED lights blinked in random patterns and intervals, leaving long and short moments of pitch blackness in between. When they did flash, we could see a thick blanket of fog inside which petered out toward us.
Yurim made a doubtful humming sound, "let's not go this way."
"We have to."
"But it's scar- OMO!" she jumped then tugged on my arm while pointing down the dark hall, "did you see that? There are people in there! I saw them move! They're gonna scare us!" she whined while pulling at my sleeve.
"It's not scary if you know it's gonna happen. Come on," I grabbed her hand and marched into the dark corridor.
"Says you!" she grumbled. Despite already walking through the thick fog, Yurim tried to escape my grip and was pretty stubborn about it too until the first scare came. Someone in zombie makeup jumped out at her from the fog.
The scaredy cat yelped and threw herself against me. Her arms wrapped tightly around my waist - body pressed mercilessly against my back. My cheeks burned. My mind short circuited causing my steps to falter and my memory of my objective to flicker. Yurim was screaming her panicked nothings into my back, none of which I could understand.
"Y-ya! Is it really that scary? Get a hold of yourself! S-seriously..." I complained while trying to peel her arms off. I swore under my breath as I fought the jittery feeling in my stomach.
Failing to loosen her grip (and after a few calming breaths) I figured trudging the rest of the way with her glued to me would've been faster anyway. Luckily for me it was the last obstacle.
When we finally reached the very end, we were greeted and congratulated for finishing the maze. Yurim let go of me at last to thank the smiling staff. As though forgetting her cowardly moment, she skipped out of the building, proud of herself for reaching the end.
Finally, I sighed, still a bit flustered from Yurim's hold.
While she searched around for the guys, I pulled out the piece of paper again. Now that we were outside, maybe the bright lights of the carnival might reveal anything on it that I wasn't able to see in the dimly lit maze. The only thing I could find was the continuation of words after the last grim instruction.
Under no circumstances let her wait or go looking for us, it said. Another air of foreboding hit me. All I could think of at that point was the hope that he didn't do anything stupid. The way she worries for him...I just know she wouldn't be okay if something bad happened - to either of them. And I wasn't sure if I would be enough if I tried to be there for her.
Just as I folded the paper closed again, my hands were empty in a flash. My heart stopped when Yurim had gotten her hands on it. "Don't!" I pleaded. "Just give it back." She met my concern with a face of suspicion.
"It is a cheat sheet isn't it?" she began opening it up. I jumped forward to take it back but she snatched it away, her eyes filled with playful mischief. My chest ached as I realized that she wanted me to keep trying - to play her game. She was in a good mood. However, if she opened up that paper, it would ruin it. That smile and that shine in her eyes would disappear247Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTM9zgZWwbj
"Yurim, give it back," my voice was hoarse.
"Oh, come on, cheating isn't that big a deal. Why so serious?"
Again, I swiped at it only for her to jump back and press her hand on my chest, keeping me away. My skin sizzled where her hand was but it couldn't stop the guilt I felt. I watched anxiously as she peeled it open and saw it. All of it.
The bright look on her face dimmed into one heavy with concern - brows crinkled. Her eyes flew across the page wildly before they returned to me where there was a hint of betrayal. Something in me shattered under that look.
"What is this?" her voice shook. I didn't know what to say. "What've you done?"
I steeled my resolve as best as I could, "I should take you home." I reached for her hand but Yurim pulled it away and scoffed in disbelief before doing exactly what I feared.
She ran back in.
"Yurim-ah!" I raced in after her.
We zoomed past the exit crew who tried to tell us to stop. Yurim flew through the maze, using the map. I followed closely behind her despite her ignoring my calls for her to stop. Many of the other maze goers were startled at our strange sprint-through, unsure if we were part of the crew or not.
Eventually, we ended up in the hall of mirrors. An area we hadn't encountered and for good reason. This was the area Hoseok had circled, telling me to stay away from here. Yurim finally slowed to a stop, only because it was dangerous to run recklessly here. The path was hard to determine in the middle of all our reflections. She examined the mirrored walls as I tried to think of something - anything to make her go back.
"We shouldn't be here. Let's go back," I panted. She didn't answer, neither did she stop investigating the mirrors. "Hoseok said to stay away from this place. Don't you think he'd know what he was talking about?" Still nothing. I sighed in frustration and looked warily around for anything suspicious - not wanting any surprises. "Yurim-ah-"
"Stop!" she whipped around to look at me. "Stop saying my name like we're friends if you're going to keep trying to stop me! Of course he knows what he's talking about! But what makes you think I'm gonna let my best friend walk into something dangerous?" Yurim's voice trembled as tears began to pool on her eyelids. "If you're really my friend then just help me!"
After she took a deep breath, she focused back on the mirrors, doing her best to stay composed.
I wanted to put up a fight. I wanted to make her see that following him was too dangerous, that it could even be more dangerous for Hoseok if she followed him, and that I just didn't want her to get hurt. However, I knew for certain that she wouldn't listen. The best I could do was stay with her and make sure none of those things happened.
Giving up, I decided to investigate the area as well and eventually saw something strange in one of the mirrors. A black crack where the mirrors should've connected seamlessly. I picked at it and the whole panel opened like a door.
"I found something," I checked the inside first before letting her in. It looked like a secret corridor where workers got to and from obstacles without encountering guests. The way was narrow and dark. "Stay behind me," I whispered.
The air inside was warm and thick with the scent of sweat and a bit of cologne. Glow in the dark markers were placed along the edges of the hallway but they weren't enough to see what was in front of us. If there was anyone heading our way, we wouldn't know it unless they were loud or about to crash into us.
As we walked it was silent except for the muffled music and sound effects coming from inside the maze. There were papers on the walls whenever we came to a corner. I held up my bracelet to one of them. They were signs that indicated what obstacles that specific path led to.
"Which one do you think they went to?" Yurim whispered.
"None. If they went to another part of the maze, he would've marked more areas for us to stay away from. There's gotta be an exit somewhere. We've only seen right turns so that must mean we're by the outer wall. Let's keep going!"
"Ah!" Yurim yelped. I heard something hit the floor behind me. I turned, heart racing. Were we caught? Did they find us? Then I realized she had fallen on her own. I sighed and knelt by her side. The orange glow of her bracelet showed her rubbing her wrists with a grimace.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, sorry. I just tripped on something."
Just as she said that, I noticed something strange. The glowing markers where she tripped. There were some missing. No, not missing. They were covered by something. And that something sat just outside of the light of Yurim's bracelet. Or maybe I was imagining it. The dark often does that to people.
Yurim noticed my reaction, "what's wrong?"
I leaned forward and reached my right hand toward that spot extending the light of my bracelet. There was something there at the foot of the wall but I couldn't make it out just yet. I reached a little further, unfurling the dark, revealing a light layer of dust, a rusted coin, a gum wrapper, and a hand.
Yurim gasped and nearly knocked me over trying to back away from it. I continued forward to find the rest of the person. It was a staff member. He was unconscious with a cut on his head. I checked to see if he was breathing. He was.
"I think he'll be fine. I just hope someone finds him soon," I said. Without another word, Yurim grabbed my hand and led the way down the hall again. This time running. "Yurim-ah! If we're not careful we could run head first into someone!"
"There!" she pointed at a glowing exit sign to the left.
We burst through the exit door. My body rejoiced at the open area and light. I searched around to check the area. All I saw was the back lot of the carnival, not far from where I parked my bike. There was no one else in view.
Suddenly, Yurim gasped and ran out by a nearby hedge to pick something up. I caught up with her and saw her holding a stuffed animal. A sheep. She whimpered, clutching it tightly to her chest. "Where are they?"
"Ya! You done taking a piss or what?" A voice croaked.
I grabbed Yurim and we ducked behind the hedges. My attention then went to our bracelets which were much too vivid in the night. I signaled her to turn hers off as I did mine.
The voices were coming from behind a bus parked nearby. We waited quietly for some kind of indication of who these guys were. If they had anything to do with Hoseok's note.
"Ah, let 'em wait. Give those three shits some time to think about what's about to happen to 'em. The blonde one's kinda interesting though. You wouldn't rat me out if I took another five minutes lettin' off some steam with him, would you?" This man gave a dark chuckle.
"Aishibal...you sick bastard," the other one clucked. "No one touches 'em. Boss wants 'em all at the place at 9 sharp or else it's our heads. So hurry the hell up!"
When the voiced faded, we heard an engine start. It wasn't the bus. They must've been parked behind it. The sound of the engine was on the move. I peeked over the bushes to look for moving headlights. It finally made a turn toward us on the road out of the parking lot. I ducked again until it passed.
I ran out and took note of the license plate. When I turned back for Yurim, I nearly ran into her. Of course she didn't stay put.
"Was it them? Did they take them?" she panicked, her eyes had turned misty, devastated. I almost groaned in pain seeing her like that but there was no time to waste.
"Stay here, okay? My bike is nearby. Just stay, I'll come to you!" I called back to her, taking off around a corner.
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A/N:
Hey there! I apologize for the long wait! I kinda lost my writing fire when I decided to take a break and watch anime - lol, I shoulda known that would happen. I'm still a bit unmotivated but I did promise to finish this story so that's what I'm gonna do!
Thank you for reading and being so patient!
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