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His laughter follows me into the corn but I don’t hear footsteps. Not immediately. That somehow makes it worse.
I sprint down one row and cut into another before risking a glance over my shoulder. Nothing—of course. “Cocky bastard.”
I keep moving as the drums pound through the maze, their rhythm following me between the rows.
One.
Two.
Three.
A shadow slips across the path ahead and I skid to a stop but nothing is there. “What the…” I turn around and he’s standing right behind me. “FUCK!”
I bolt before he can reach for me, his laughter following as I tear in the opposite direction. “That’s fucking creepy!”
This time, he comes after me… fast. I hear his boots pounding the dirt behind me, closing the distance so quickly that my stomach drops.
“OH, FUCK YOU!”
Apparently, that only encourages him. I push harder, but he’s gaining. His fingers brush the back of my sweater just as I whip around another corner, and I jerk away with a scream that turns into laughter.
My boot catches a rut. “Fuck!” I stumble forward, nearly eating dirt before catching myself and taking off again.
He could’ve grabbed me, but he doesn’t.
The realization hits me a few seconds later when he closes in again, gets near enough that I can practically feel him at my back, then deliberately falls away.
He’s letting me escape.
Every time he gets close enough to catch me, he gives me another few feet.
The asshole is playing with me.
And knowing that sends another rush of adrenaline straight through my veins. “You’re an asshole.”
His laughter answers from somewhere behind me.
I duck beneath a low-hanging stalk and make a sharp left straight into a wall of corn. “Motherfucker.”
Dead end.
I spin around and he’s already standing there at the mouth of the row, blocking the only way out. My chest rises and falls as I try to catch my breath. His does the same beneath his dark shirt, unlike me, he doesn’t look remotely concerned about being trapped.
Because he isn’t.
I am.
For several seconds, neither of us moves then the drums stop.
Silence drops over the maze so suddenly that my pulse seems deafening in its place.
Slowly, I smile beneath my mask. “Time’s up.”
His head tilts.
A bell rings somewhere beyond the corn.
Once. Twice. Three times then cheers erupt throughout the maze.
