Somehow the night deepened, draping the world in black. I stepped away from Clara before she could protest and I heard her shouts from behind me but my racing heart soon tuned her out as each step led me away from her, and closer to what called me. The space around me felt electric, alive with whatever beckoned me closer. The breeze danced through the trees and carried with it a scent of death and something…sweet.
Whatever it was led me to the entrance of the maze rather quickly, and I paused. The towering hedges loomed before me, their dark shapes twisted and curled despite the lack of breeze, it reminded me of a heartbeat. Almost as if the stalks were breathing. The pale light of the moon cast a path and illuminated the way forward. The pull that had plagued me since I got off the bus was much more like a magnetic force now, urging, no,demandingthat I enter.
I was compelled to brush my fingers against the rough texture of the hedge, a jolt of energy shooting through me. It was as if the maze recognized my touch and flourished under it. It awakened something dormant deep inside that bristled as it awoke.
The breeze ruffled my hair as if murmuring a warning that I no longer cared about. “Gwendolyn…” The voice echoed throughoutthe chambers of my heart, haunting yet sweet, a siren's call that resonated with the one thing you couldn’t see or touch. My soul.
I took a step forward, then another, and suddenly the path unfolded before me, revealing a way into its depths. One step into the maze and the outside faded into nothing, the laughter of the students faded into silence before my next breath, the glow of the lanterns extinguished as I was brought into its fold. Here, it was just me and the whispering of the maze, entwining me in a dark dance of fate I wasn’t yet aware of.
As I walked deeper into the path that was laid out for me, the shadows that were my only companion lengthened and curled around my ankles and back like fingers longing for touch. I embraced it without a second thought. I felt it seep into my skin, merging with the siren's call and touching on the essence of who I was. I no longer felt like Gwendolyn, I felt like something that belonged here, within the embrace of the maze.
I felt it then. A presence that lingered just beyond the stalks, a soul who was just as intertwined as mine yearned to be. A name I could taste on my tongue but didn’t know yet. A name that felt woven into my core but still couldn’t say. It sent a shiver down my spine, and I welcomed it, a thrill raced through me and it urged me deeper into the maze.
“Gwendolyn…” The voice was clearer now, it sounded like it spoke in tongues of the past. A soft whisper now drifted through the air. My heart raced, thrumming in time with the pulse of the maze. The presence I felt pushed against the barriers of my understanding and drew me closer, and deeper.
The path that was straight before twisted off before me, and led me to an archway of tangled branches. I hesitated for a moment, a flicker of fear sparked within me.What was I doing?It wasalmost like I had no control over what was happening, my mind and body lost to whatever this was. A warning echoed in my mind, somethingsinisterwas at play here, but I no longer had a choice. It was intoxicating, and I was where I needed to be.
I stepped through the archway, and the air grew colder, thick, and a flurry of snow started to come down around me, the hedges seemed to move in closer to create a more clear path. They seemed to whisper secrets to one another. As I kept my pace, I felt the trickle of something watching, something behind me and I could have sworn I caught glimpses of movement from the corners of my eyes, but they darted just out of reach when I turned to look back.
The feeling of being watched was suffocating and the feeling wrapped itself around my throat like a noose, and I knew, knew he was here, whoever he was.
“Who are you?” I whispered, half-expecting a reply but only silence greeted me. Yet, I could still sense him, a shadow that lurked just beyond the edges of my vision.
As I ventured deeper, the whispers grew louder, swirling around me. “Gwendolyn…” It had turned my name into a symphony against the silence of the night. I felt my heart quicken, and my fingers twitch, the unmistakable feeling of fight or flight starting to take over, and yet, I couldn’t move. It felt as if I were on the precipice of something…monumental, life-altering, and I won’t run, not yet anyway.
“Gwendolyn…”
It beckoned me again, so I continued, each step becoming consumed in the silence, matching the heartbeat of the maze, and possibly…the long forgotten pulse of something else.
Chapter Four
Kasper
The maze loomed before me, a living entity shrouded in legend, coming alive with the magic of Hallows’ Eve. Tonight, it would welcome a new soul and I would be the one to guide her, to consume her and offer her as payment. I waited, concealed among the darkness, anticipation coiled around my spine like a serpent poised to strike. Year after year, decade after decade I’d done what was required without hesitation, but this time, this time was different.
It was the scent of her fear that drew me in, it was intoxicating, like the finest wine, but beneath the fear, I felt it. Excitement, curiosity…and I tasted it on my tongue, along with her vulnerability that cracked something within me and ignited a fire I long thought extinguished. The air crackled around me as I sensed her getting closer, the sweet thrill of the hunt started to thrum in my veins.
“Gwendolyn,” I murmured, the name rolled off my tongue like a dark incantation. It was heavy with meaning and I reveled in the power it had. She felt like a beacon, a flickering flame in my world that was masked in meaningless hours, days, years, and I was a moth drawn to her light.
I felt her first step into the maze, her footsteps beat within me like a heartbeat long forgotten. I felt a surge of primal desire, an obsession grew and festered, clawing at my insides. I’d spent centuries in the company of souls like hers, fragile, fleeting, so easily extinguished. Sohuman, and I'd long left mine behind. Yet, none had ever ignited this kind of hunger. I was no longer a watcher and executioner, I was a predator, and she wasmyprey.
The first moment I caught sight of her, I was entranced. Soft blonde hair framed her face, almost luminescent in the night. Her brown eyes were wide and searching, confused yet intrigued. She was, in many ways unremarkable, just another pretty girl lost in the dark. But she was everything, she was mine. Something in her gaze made my blood run hot. I craved to touch her, to taste the sweetness of her fear, the sweetness of her.
“Zig-zag, sweet Gwendolyn,” I whispered in reverence of a woman I had yet to meet. “Zig-zag through the maze of our intertwined fate, no matter where you turn, I will find you in the threads of time. Zig-zag my love,” I urged, my voice now a low growl that resonated with the paths.
With every step she took, my infatuation grew, she couldn’t see me yet, but I could see her. I couldfeelher, as if despite our earthly differences her soul was bound to mine. I could feel her pulse quickening, the sweet rhythm of her fear seeped deep into her bones and I felt the way they rattled. Intoxicating. I longed to ensnare her, to possess her completely.
She hesitated at a fork in the path, I saw her breath fog in the cold air. I could taste her fear, and I relished in it. The maze twisted behind her, moving her deeper within, making her escape impossible.
Zig-zag my love, my soul is aching to find yours in death.
Chapter Five
Gwendolyn
It felt like someone had reached inside and was pressing down on my chest, making each breath like a struggle. As I navigated the paths before me, an unsettling sensation crawled over my skin. It wasn’t the chill of the night, it was that palpable awareness that twitches to life when you’re being watched. However, this was something different, something…severe. A presence lurking just out of sight, waiting, biding its time,hunting.
I halted, my heart still racing, the world around me seemed to burn alive in the stillness, alive with a dark energy that seemed to want to consume me. I wrapped my arms tightly around myself trying to stave off the incessant cold that settled in. My instincts were screaming at me to run, yet I was rooted in place. Drawn deeper and deeper by a whispering of something, by an invisible pull I couldn’t explain even if I wanted.
