The Disciple and Other Stories of the Paranormal (13 page)

The stage we stepped out on was empty. Well,
empty of people. There were a lot of props hanging from the
catwalks.

“
Are those supposed to be
angels, devils, and demons?” Susan asked as she looked
around.

“
Looks like it. So much
for our play idea, though.” The seating was a half-and-half, where
the main aisle went down the middle of the room and aligned with
the middle of the stage. There were plenty of seats, but no one was
in them. “It’s a weird setup anyway. Who has their theater aisle in
the middle?”

“
It’s not pitch black, I’m
okay with it.” Susan sat down at the edge of the stage and pulled
out her map. “Okay, the Stage has two other doors. One leads to the
Conservatory. That’s a popular spot.”

“
Well, you said it had a
lot of doors.”

“
True. The other leads to,
get this, the Maze.”

“
I thought we were in the
maze.”

“
Me too, but I guess it’s
an official maze.” Susan looked at me. “I think I hate your
boss.”

I shrugged. “He’s eccentric, I’ll give you
that.”

She looked around the room. “I don’t want to
go back to the Conservatory, and I don’t want to go back into total
darkness.”

“
I only see one door.” I
pointed to the other end of the room. The single door lined up with
the center aisle.

“
That means the other door
is hidden. And I’ll bet it’s another walk in the darkness. Let’s
take the one in front of us, regardless of where it
leads.”

I jumped down off the stage and lifted her
off by her waist. Susan giggled and I kissed her. “See? We can have
fun even in the middle of a weird maze.”

She hugged me. “True enough.”

We were about to walk up the aisle when we
heard voices. “I think they’re coming from behind the curtain, the
other side from where we came.”

“
At least they’re not
screaming or crying.”

They were arguing. “I told you, stop
worrying, stop crying, stop whining.” I didn’t need to see him to
recognize the voice – it was Michael.

He strode on stage, Oriana stumbling behind
him. He wasn’t holding onto her. Her face was streaked with tears
and her hair was a mess.

“
Oh, you’re here,” Michael
said. “Where did you come from?”

“
Storage,” Susan said.
“Via a really long, dark, horrible path.”

“
Us too,” Oriana said,
sniffling. “But we weren’t in a storage room.”

“
Were you the one
screaming earlier?” Susan asked.

Oriana shook her head. “I was too scared to
scream. I hate this place.”

“
Some people would
appreciate this kind of entertainment being created specifically
for them,” Michael said.

“
Who in the hell would
that be?” Carla asked as she came out from behind the curtain,
Johnny right behind her. “This is the craziest place I’ve ever
been, and I’ve been all over the world.”

“
She’s a little freaked
out,” Johnny said. “Sorry.”

“
Who can blame her?”
Oriana muttered.

“
Were you all in the
Conservatory?” Susan asked.

“
Yes,” Michael
replied.

“
If you mean that weird
looks like it’s open air but isn’t place with the crying hills,
yes,” Carla answered.

“
You’re reading the map
right, hon,” I said quietly. “Not that I ever had a
doubt.”

Susan smiled proudly. “Then let’s head for
the Maze.”

“
We’re
in
the
maze,” Michael said with disdain. I really didn’t like
him.

“
No,” I said before Susan
could reply. “This is a special maze within the larger maze. We
have a map.”

Michael rolled his eyes, but he got down off
the stage. Johnny jumped down like I had and helped Carla. Then he
helped Oriana. Carla didn’t seem to care. Probably because she was
freaked out. Apparently when she was freaked out Carla got
angry.

We walked up the aisle. As we reached the
door Susan pointed. “Look.” There was a folder bin attached to the
wall with “MAPS” emblazoned on it. Susan took one.

“
We have a map,” I pointed
out.

She opened it. “Oooh, this is a different
map. This one is for the Maze specifically.”

The other women grabbed copies as well.

Thusly armed, I opened the door and we all
stepped through.

“
More doors,” Carla said
flatly. “Goody.”

“
Not really doors,” Johnny
said. “More like openings.”

I agreed with him – there were four openings
in front of us, but none had an actual door. The two on either side
turned immediately right or left, depending. The two in the middle
went farther in, then one turned right and the other left.

The room was large; it felt larger than the
Conservatory. The maze walls were high, close to the ceiling. There
was no way to get over a wall. The walls looked solid; there was
probably no way to break through one, either.

“
Maze starting points.”
Susan was reading the new map, old map tucked back into her bosom.
“This is set up like a real English hedge maze. The map has it all
laid out. This should be fun, actually.”

I refrained from mentioning what could hide
in a giant hedge.

“
Fun is going to a lovely
day spa,” Oriana said. “Not this.”

“
Maybe there will be a spa
at the end,” Susan said encouragingly.

“
Maybe there will be more
maze crap at the end,” Carla said. She heaved a sigh. “But, as far
as I can tell, we’re stuck going through this.”

“
I’m hungry,” Oriana said
quietly. “And thirsty.”

The rest of us, now that it was mentioned,
shared that we could use some food and water, too. But there wasn’t
any.

“
I say again, some host,”
Carla snapped. “This is the prettiest looking dump I’ve ever had
the displeasure of visiting.”

Johnny shrugged. “Let’s look for the way
out, and then maybe there will be a sumptuous feast and wine
aplenty when we exit.”

Oriana managed a little smile. Carla
snorted. Johnny shook his head, but offered an arm to each of them.
“Ladies, shall we?”

“
Michael?” Oriana asked
timidly.

He rolled his eyes. “Fine, we’ll travel
along with them for a while.” Oriana grabbed Johnny’s arm quickly.
After her trip through the dark without Michael holding onto her, I
couldn’t blame her.

“
We’ll go it alone,” I
said quickly.

“
You’re sure?” Johnny
sounded disappointed.

“
Positive.” I could have
stood spending time with Johnny and Oriana. But Carla was close to
dancing on my last nerve and it had been a long time since I’d
wanted to hit someone as much as I wanted to punch Michael in the
face. And there was no way any employee would allow themselves to
be separated from their companion. Not here.

The others grumbled for a bit, then Carla,
who was looking at her map, chose a direction and they headed off.
We could hear them bickering for quite a while.

“
You don’t work with
Michael, do you?” Susan, who was still studying our map,
asked.

“
No.
Thankfully.”

“
Yeah, I don’t like him
much, either. You know, Matt, this maze doesn’t seem to actually
have an end. I think it’s more like a…trap.”

“
Oh, if you work at it,
you’ll find your way out.” The voice came from behind us. Even
though I recognized it, I jumped just like Susan did.

We turned to see the Guide standing there.
“Is it possible to get some water or a snack?” Susan asked. “We’ve
been doing this so-called game for hours.”

“
It hasn’t been as long as
it seems to you,” the Guide said. “Time has a way of…getting
tangled up in mazes.”

“
I’ll bet.” Susan sighed.
“Water? Any chance of that?”

The Guide frowned. “I’m sorry, but there is
no food or beverage allowed inside the maze.”

“
Of course there isn’t.”
Susan shook herself. “Now I sound like Carla. Okay, fine. Any
suggestions for how we get out of this or the best way to go? Based
on this map, there are destination points, but none of them lead to
an actual exit.”

“
There are doorways of all
kinds in here,” the Guide said as he turned away. “Each find their
own.”

Carla and her group had gone through the
leftmost entrance. The Guide went through the middle-right one.

“
So, middle left or far
right?” I asked Susan.

She grimaced. “Not sure really. I kind of
wish I knew which way Helen and William picked.”

“
What makes you think they
were here already?”

“
No idea. You’re right.
For all we know, they went a different way completely and are
nowhere near here.”

“
I wish,” William said as
he and Helen walked out of the middle-left path. “Dead end at every
turn.” He sighed. “Honey, do we have to go back in?”

“
The Stage is behind us,”
Susan said. “But I think the paths out of it are both pretty
horrible.”

Helen laughed. It was a tinkling sound most
women couldn’t manage but all women tried for. A laugh that went
right into a man’s gut and twirled around and down into his groin.
“Oh, William, we’ll be just fine.”

“
I don’t want to take you
on some horrible path,” he said protectively. “Maybe we should go
back in there.”

Helen smiled. “Let’s rest here for a bit and
then decide.”

“
No water or food,” Susan
said.

“
We’ll make do, honey,”
Helen replied. “I’d try the right-most path. Maybe it’ll be good
for you.”

I took Susan’s hand. “Thanks for the
tip.”

“
See you on the other
side,” Helen called as we entered the Maze.