Maze of Terror
So, this is for you The_Story_Nerds Happy birthday! If your in any way not comfortable with your name in the story, don't hesitate to tell me and I'll change it. I hope you like it!
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Zion was sitting on the floor in his room, watching YouTube. He just finished a video from film theory about the latest Halloween movie. It was nearing Halloween, so they had released one for Halloween. But recently, he repeatedly had this horrible feeling. That feeling of being watched. The eerie sensation that you can feel, makes you anxious, but when you turn around, there's nothing. He felt it now.
Turning his gaze to the window, he saw a tree branch waving at him, but that was it. He had this feeling since the beginning of October actually. He told his parents, but they told him it was in his head. True, he had been scared of Halloween until he turned 13, and was freaked out by everything, but he had recently turned 16 and had long since grown out of that. He began to think maybe it was in his head, since after all, he never had found the cause and nothing had happened. Yet, another part of him believed it wasn't and that something was wrong.
Sighing, he looked back at his phone.
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"Have fun honey," Zion's mom said, as she dropped him off at the corn maze. He was meeting three of his friends at the corn maze. It was Halloween, and now nearly 10 o'clock. It was a haunted corn maze, which the participants would be trying to figure their way through with flashlights, while sometimes being scared by people dressed as monsters.
Zion waved as his mom drove away, then crossed the road to the maze. His friends were already there. Wendy, Dashiell, and Aaron. They dressed warmly, and each sported a headlamp. They stood near the entrance of the corn maze waiting for him.
"Hi!" Wendy said when seeing Zion.
"Hey," Zion said. "Are you excited?"
"Absolutely." Dashiell said, rubbing her gloved hands together.
"Good," Aaron said. They walked over to the entrance, where they payed for their tickets at the small booth. The man hooked a little plastic bracelet to each of their wrists, then handed them a sheet of paper that had squares on it.
"There's stamp stations throughout the corn maze," the man explained. "They may be at a dead end, but if you collect them all, you get a prize at the end."
"Awesome, thanks!" Zion said.
"Lets go," Aaron said, switching his headlamp on. Dashiell, Wendy and Zion, taking the lead, followed, also clicking their headlamps on. They shone brightly, lighting the path in front of them, but it was also creepy having the corn towering high above on both sides, a black wall surpassing your hight. Zion suddenly began to have the nagging feeling of being watched. By now, he sort of had learned to just ignore it, but this time it felt worse. He whipped his head around, his light quickly lighting the path behind them. He saw nothing.
"Someone there?" He heard Wendy ask, as she turned her head.
"No, it's nothing." Zion said, forcing a smile, then caught up with the group.
"Ok," Wendy said, turning back around. They kept walking for a while, then the path curved and split into two different paths. They stopped.
"Which one should we take?" Aaron asked.
"The left one I reckon," Dashiell said. "Maybe the right, I dont know."
"Let's go left," Zion said, taking the lead, wanting to leave since the feeling he was being watched had begun again. Everyone followed him, then when the path twisted, they came to a dead end.
"Darn it." Dashiell said. "But at least we got a stamp," she walked up to a small stand that had a stamp and an ink pad on it. Zion walked up beside her, and saw the stamp had a 2 written on the head, and Dashiell stamped it on the square on the paper that also had a two on it. The stamps picture now, just had the tops of some corn and what looked to be maybe a shoulder of a flannel shirt. She handed the stamper to Zion, and he stamped it on his paper. It went down the line, until everyone had stamped it. They turned around and headed back. When they reached the place where the path split, they turned down the other path.
They walked for a while, talking and laughing. They took many turns, which seemed to lead places. They found another stamp along the path, and this one added to the bottom corner, which showed the bottoms of corn.
Zion walked in the back, watching the ground before them and seeing their lights bouncing on the path. He bit his lip as the feeling came back. Glacing to his sides, nothing was there except for the corn. Fighting the urge to look behind him, he kept trudging along. But when he heard a crackle behind him, it was to much. He screamed, whipping his head around. His light fell on a two kids a ways back. They gave him a surprised look as they turned down a different path.
"You ok?" Dashiell asked. "You seem on edge tonight."
"No, I'm fine," Zion said nervously as Wendy shrugged her shoulders to Aaron.
"We can leave," Wendy said reassuringly.
"No, I want to finish it." Zion said. "Besides, I dont think we could get out now if we wanted." He chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.
"If you say so," Aaron said, chuckling.
They kept walking, weaving their way through the maze. Another two stamp stands showed the arm and leg of a scarecrow. Zion forced himself to ignore the now intense feeling that he kept feeling, telling himself that he wouldn't let himself be scared and ruin their fun. He kept thinking, his gaze wandering to the sides of the corn. His paranoia kept seeing eyes, but when he blinked, they were gone. He stopped abruptly to avoid walking into Wendy. They had stopped, and Zion saw there were now four paths branching in different directions.
"Which one should we take?" Wendy said, thinking.
Dashiell snickered. "I have an idea," she said with a cheeky smile. "Let's split up. If we find anything, ya know, shoot us a text."
They pondered this for a second.
"Thats actually not a bad idea," Aaron said.
"Yea," Wendy agreed.
"Sure..." Zion said slowly, not really wanting to split up, but didn't want to reject Dashiell's idea just because he was afraid. They each chose a path. Zion began walking down the one on the far right. He walked quickly, his footsteps loud and his breath ragged. The feeling returned, and this time he didn't try to ignore it. He kept whipping his around in fear, but not finding anything. He jumped when the wind blew a corn husk across his path, and he kicked at it angrily.
An owl's screech sent him scurrying forward, his heart pounding in his ribcage. He ran forward, looking behind him, then tripped on something. He fell to his knees, but lept back up. He turned around to see what tripped him. Just a stamp stand he saw. Just a stamp stand. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, and reassured himself nothing was there. It was all in his head. Opening his eyes, he took the stamp and stamped it on his paper. He almost chocked when he saw what it was. It was the scarecrows head, but it had deep hollow eyes, a jagged mouth that curled upwards into a cruel smile, and its skin wrinkly. A pointed hat lay on its head, bits of straw sticking down over its face. But what bothered him was the blood smeared on the scarecrows face.
Zion set the stamp down on the table, then froze. A drop of red dripped on the table, then began moving, spelling out something. His eyes wide with terror, he read what it was wrote. I'm coming Zion
This was the last straw. Everything, all those feelings, came rushing back. All the lies he told himself shattered and realization hit him. Something had been watching him. There was something, and it was coming for him.
Suddenly, something very gently, rested on his shoulder. His body tensed, and his breath stopped in his throat. His hands went limp, and his paper fluttered softly to the ground. Ever so slowly, Zion turned to see what was there, and looking up, saw the face of the scarecrow that he had stamped. It was one hundred times more scary, more terrifying, that it was on the paper. It's stick hand, that was soaked in blood, still rested on his shoulder, but now squeezed tigher. It smiled wider, the corners of its mouth crinkled when it met Zion's gaze.
Zion let out a yell, louder than he had ever yelled. The scarecrow laughed, a raspy, hollow laugh of enjoyment. It swung it's other arm at Zions head, but he ducked, tearing away from the scarecrows grasp. Zion scooted back, wheeled around, and started running. Up ahead, he saw a dead end, but instead went faster, plowing right into the corn. He spread his hands in front of him, clawing and pulling away the corn stalks. He could hear corn rustling behind him, and the raspy laugh of the screcrow. Terror fueled him on, as he tore his way through the corn. He felt like he ran a mile, but hadn't stumbled on any other maze paths.
Putting on a burst of speed, Zion ran forward, then swerved left, turning off his light. He fell to the ground, curling into a ball, covering his mouth with his hand, trying to control his breathing. He heard rustling, and he trembled as he heard it move past him. He waited a minute before removing his hand. Then a thought struck his mind. His friends! He pulled out his phone, and with a glace around, turned it on. 11:53, October 31, was what it said over his Nugget from kindergarten lockscreen. He unlocked it, but didn't see his home screen. All there was was three red letters. I see you
Zion gasped, shoving his phone in his pocket, and leapt back. Something slashed the ground by his feet, leaving a deep gash in the earth. The scarecrow, towering in the corn, stood beside him.
You can't run forever it said, it's voice as dry as a crisp brown leaf.
Fear racking his body, he turned, but was yanked back by a stick hand. It held firmly to bottom side of his shirt, slowly pulling him back. Zion struggled, and smacking the arm, wrenched himself sideways. His shirt ripped, and he fell forwards. The scarecrow stood, a piece of Zions black shirt in his hand. It's mouth curled down, an angry expression forming on its face.
Scrambling up, Zion took off running again. He could hear the scarecrow in pursuit, it now howling in anger. Zion yelled as he felt three sharp claws slash through jacket and cut into his skin.
A cold fear, surged through him as he tripped on a stone. He fell forward, immediately giving into defeat. He curled in a ball, wrapping his arms over his head and waited. Waited for the scarecrow to reach him and tear him apart. But it never came. Cautiously, he removed his arms, and listened. He heard nothing, no raspy breathing, and no rustling of footsteps. His eyes scanned the area around him, not seeing anything. He was trembling so badly he could barely sit up.
Frantically looking around, he wondered where the scarecrow had gone. Pulling out his phone, he turned it on. 12:01, November 1, it read. He lowered his phone. 12 o'clock he thought. It just turned past midnight. That's when the scarecrow had left, when it had turned back midnight and into November. He let out a relieved chuckle. A tear leaked out of his eye but he wiped it away.
Zion lay his back, his arms straight out. He was safe, he thought. He was safe.
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