The Fall 4:04

Seeing that the archway above the gate was decorated with copious artificial cobwebs, Winslow frowned. The material was essentially a death trap for bugs and birds— she hated the stuff. A bunch of fake severed hands, feet, and heads also hung from the archway, which was just gross. Winslow began to doubt whether the haunted maze would be any fun.

Winslow got her wristband marked by the attendant, who was dressed as a clown, and shuffled through the gate to meet her friends. Kiernan followed her and the group ventured inside together.

Gwen quickly leaned over, gently grabbing Winslow's arm and gesturing back to the parking lot. “Is that Reid?” She whispered. “I thought he wasn't coming.”

Winslow followed her friend’s gaze, spotting Reid approaching the admissions booth with Landon close behind him. She rolled her eyes. “I don't even want to look at him right now.”

Turning away from the entrance again, Winslow picked up the pace a little, hoping the group could lose Reid if they moved quickly enough. She considered finding a performer and asking them to taunt him and Landon for a while, just to make sure they couldn't catch up, but decided that was a little too mean. She worried that if Reid had shown up with good intentions, realizing he was in the wrong, it wouldn't be fair to give him the cold shoulder while he was putting in the effort. Still, the haunted maze felt a lot scarier knowing that they could run into Reid and Landon at any moment.

The group reached their first crossroads after following the winding path for several yards. They came to a stop while they considered their options.

Checking both directions and seeing no costumed creeps, Antonio asked, “So… Which way should we go?”

Everyone hesitated. Of course, there were no markers or anything else that could indicate a right or wrong way, but there were also no signs of monsters and characters they wanted to avoid.

Winslow remembered hearing a tip somewhere that it's best to just pick one direction and always go that way. “Well,” she laughed, singing, “Choose the right when a choice is placed before you!” She hummed the tune of the next line, leading the group to the right.

Only Kiernan laughed. She had quoted a hymn that they sometimes sing at church, which was about that same motto that Winslow often referenced— choose the right. 

“What?” Marcus asked. “What does that even mean?”

Kiernan followed Winslow, chuckling, and answered, “It's a song from church.”

“About corn mazes?” Jacob asked sarcastically, turning to follow the group.

“About making good choices. Choosing to do the right thing,” Winslow corrected from a few feet ahead.

“Wait, that's why you say that all the time?” Gwen asked. “I totally thought it was just a bit you did.”

“Nope,” Winslow chirped, trotting along the edge of the corn. “Just quoting the Lord’s gospel.”

Kiernan laughed again, shaking his head, happily walking with the group down the right-side path.

A tall performer with ratty clothes and ghostly makeup soon emerged from the shadows, startling the group. He tried to harass and scare them, but Gwen handled it immediately. She asked the man how his day was, if he had any fun plans for the evening, and if he was lost.

“It's okay, you can come with us,” she assured him, holding out her hand as if she were going to lead a child across a busy street.

The performer hissed, getting up in her face, but she didn't bat an eye.

“Fine, have it your way,” she said, shrugging and walking past him. The group followed, but the ghost did not.

They soon encountered a few staged horror scenes. The first was just a tunnel covered in fake spiders— some robotic and moving— which Marcella absolutely hated. There was even a motion-activated sensor that dropped a spider on a string on the first person through the tunnel. Russ, unfortunately, got that jump-scare.

Later, a row of rubbery heads on spikes lined a four-way intersection. Winslow disliked the fake gore. Muttering, “Choose the right,” she sneered at one of the heads, leading the group to the right again.

As the group walked, they came across plenty more performers. There was a pair of creepy twins waiting at a dark dead-end, a guy who crawled backwards on all-fours, and several variations of bloody clowns and chainsaw-wielding maniacs.

Gwen acted snarky and sarcastic to all of the different characters, treating it like a game. All her friends found this extremely entertaining and encouraged her along, the boys also heckling the performers whenever they could. Marcella even pretended to flirt with one of the clowns, telling him to meet her by the maze exit later. She twirled her hair playfully as she said it, and the clown played along before blowing her a kiss and wandering away. Russ seemed to hate that particular clown a little more than the others.

Later, as the group circled into an area they definitely already saw, one of the masked men with chainsaws got a little too close for comfort. He screamed and revved his chainsaw, swinging at Gwen's neck and stopping barely two inches away.

She took a step back and said, “Ew, hate that,” then tried to walk past him.

The gore-covered character got back in Gwen's way, continuing to pretend to hack away at her with his chainsaw while he wailed and cackled. He went for her knees, her arms, her neck again, and mimed slashing her across the chest.

Winslow chewed her lip nervously, toying with her ring. She eyed the others in the group. She knew the performers weren't allowed to actually touch them, and their weapons were obviously fake, right? Still, everyone in the group looked uncomfortable as well, including Gwen. She kept trying to step away from the guy, turn around, or generally try to put distance between them, but he seemed determined to pick on her.

Gwen eventually rolled her eyes. “Should we just run?” She asked, shouting over the sound of the chainsaw. “He can't follow us forever, right? Don't they have zones they have to stay in, or something?”

Jacob called back, “Yeah, that sounds right!” He kept a close eye on the performer.

“Okay, maybe if you guys sneak past me?”

Marcella tried inching her way past Gwen and the chainsaw guy. The performer screamed, pivoting and violently swinging his weapon towards Marcella. She yelped, jumping back in fear, bumping into Marcus and Jacob as they both teetered like bowling pins. The guy took a step closer to the group, and Gwen took the chance to run. Realizing she was escaping, the masked man chased after her, revving his chainsaw. Gwen's friends ran after her as well, not wanting to get separated. She had a good few yards of a headstart, but they were able to keep track of her through the twists and turns and crossroads, especially with the roar of her pursuer’s chainsaw.

After circling a large roundabout, the group dashed down a long stretch of straight path. In front of Gwen, another masked man jumped out of the corn, wielding an axe. Gwen darted to the right, finding a path that ran perpendicular to the long one. The guy with the axe chased after her, and the one with the chainsaw turned on the rest of the group.

Backtracking into the roundabout, the group got separated. Kiernan had started to slow down significantly, shaking and breathing heavily, and he ducked into one of the offshoots to catch his breath. Winslow was the only one who noticed, so she turned back around and hurried to follow him. Luckily, the maniac ran straight past their turn, still gunning for the bigger group.

“Are you okay?” Winslow asked, placing a hand on Kiernan's arm as he doubled over.

“Fine,” he choked. “I'm fine.” His voice sounded strangled and he clutched his chest.

“Here, let's…” Winnie pulled Kiernan a few paces deeper into their offshoot, where they turned left into an abrupt, large dead-end.

Kiernan practically collapsed into the dirt. He sat right on the edge of the corn, hyperventilating in the shadow. The ground was swaying beneath him and he didn't trust himself to stay upright on his feet. His head felt like it was stuffed with cotton and he couldn't quite make out the sound of Winslow's frantic questions regarding his condition. His whole body shook as he desperately gasped for air.

He tried to calm himself down— to remember where he was— but nothing felt real anymore. Wherever he was, whatever he was doing, something horrible was about to happen. He was going to die there.

For a second, Winslow thought Kiernan could be having a seizure. He had quietly choked and gasped for a long time, but then he spoke again with a pained, hoarse voice. 

“Where's everyone else?” He looked around, seeing that it was just him and Winslow. He tried to take a calming, deep breath, but instead only made a wet choking sound.

“I don't know. Are you okay?” Winslow sank to her knees beside him, terror overcoming her as she realized he still wasn't catching his breath at all.

“Just… a lot of running…” He hid his face in his hands. He felt like his lungs were restricted; like every exhale brought him closer to slow suffocation. He knew he was going to die in this corn maze— he could feel it getting closer.

Winslow scrambled closer to him, swearing she saw a tear run down his face. “Hey, hey, what's wrong?”

“Sorry,” he wiped his eyes. He couldn't tell her what was happening. It would only scare her more. “It's probably… just… my asthma…” He choked again, then finally got a few clear breaths. “And that chainsaw sound really freaks me out.” He tried to laugh, but it came out strangled. Even though it was dark outside, Kiernan's vision disappeared as his head and chest felt fuzzy. He clutched his chest again, wincing.

He felt Winslow put a hand on his arm. She was trembling, too. “Okay, okay…” She shifted to sit down next to him on the ground. “We can wait here until—”

The corn across from them rustled, and Winslow grabbed Kiernan's arm, startled and craning her neck to see what had found them. Kiernan didn't want to look. He just hoped it would kill him quickly.

Reid and Landon emerged from the corn. They'd cut straight through it. 

“Seriously, there's one rule!” Winslow snapped, rolling her eyes at them. She immediately focused back on Kiernan, asking, “What can I do? Do you have an inhaler?”

Irritated that she didn't care to see him, Reid snarled. He stepped closer to them, considering how best to convince Winslow to act right. With a laugh, he saw tears in Kiernan's eyes. “Oh wow, is he crying? See, Winnie, he's laaaame.” He kicked a small rock at Kiernan.

Winslow tried to ignore him, still focused on Kiernan.

Reid furiously grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet. Why was she ignoring him for some loser that couldn't even handle a corn maze? The look in Winslow's eyes just pissed him off more. “Why are you even hanging out with him? He's pathetic. You're just embarrassing yourself.” He sneered at the guy sitting on the ground, then looked back at Winslow. “You deserve so much better.”

Reid had backed Winslow into a corner, just a few feet from Kiernan. She tried to look at Kiernan, checking to see how he was doing, but Reid pulled on her arm again so she'd meet his eye.

 “Let's just go home, Winnie,” He said quietly. His tone sounded wrong. “Come on…”

Forcing her back into the corn, Reid studied her face, then pressed his lips into Winslow's. She struggled, trying to shove him away, but he was stronger.

“Stop,” she insisted, but her voice hardly made a squeak. She tried to pull her face away, to turn her neck; anything that could keep Reid off her.

Easily finding her mouth and kissing her again, Reid said, “Winnie, you're being so dramatic…”

Then, suddenly, Winslow could breathe again and Reid was a few feet away. Landon was pulling him along, shouting, “Run!” as they vanished back into the corn. Winslow's friends ran towards her and Kiernan, apparently having scared Reid and Landon away. If it came down to it, two against eight wouldn't be very good odds, after all.

“Was that Reid?” Marcella asked when the group closed the distance between them. “What happened?”

The group looked at Winslow, who realized her face was wet with tears, and Kiernan, who forced himself to his feet, still breathing heavily. They were both in pretty bad shape.

Marcella and Gwen held onto Winslow to steady her. Her knees didn't feel solid at the moment and her vision blurred.

Kiernan wiped his eyes, trying to appear put-together for the group. Jacob was by his side immediately. 

Winslow stared down at her trembling hands. “Reid… He just showed up…” She turned her hands over, trying to make sure they were hers and that they worked. She looked back up at her friends, who both immediately pulled her into a little group hug. “I think he just assaulted me.”