A Dark Destiny

Chapter 17

I followed Ryan through the lovely rose garden. There were lovely bushes of white and red roses. Beautiful glowing butterflies in the six colours: red, blue, yellow, orange, purple and green, flew around making the place look magical and exotic. I almost got left behind by Ryan who didn't seem to be aware that I had been caught looking at them. Lucky for me, there was only one straight path leading to who knows where.

I quickly caught up with Ryan, and minutes later, the scenery started to change. There were no rose bushes around as we were surrounded by long green hedges, taller than the both of us. I also noticed that the place didn't have butterflies flying around. I felt a little weird about this place and I made sure not to lose Ryan. This time the path became narrower and the green hedges were much closer.

"Try not to lose me," said Ryan as he continued to lead the way. "You don't want to get lost in here."

I now saw what he meant when he turned down the path in another direction. I followed him and noticed more paths going round the hedges. I wonder where they lead to. Now is not the time to start wonder. I had to follow Ryan's instruction. Something told me I might get lost if I take my eyes off him. It felt like a maze in here.

"We're in a maze, aren't we?" I asked Ryan as it finally struck me.

"We are," he answered, not even turning his head to look at me.

He sounded serious and I'm about to ask him why we were walking through here, but I kept the question to myself. I'm in a maze. My day couldn't get any weirder.

It felt like we've been walking forever when fog slowly started to appear. Where did it come from? The weather seemed just fine. It all changed in a flash.

I focused on Ryan's purple robe in front of me, but everytime he looked to be disappearing in the fog that I had to quicken my steps to catch up. In the end, I bumped into him.

"What the-?" he sounded upset as he stopped in his tracks.

"I'm sorry," I said as I backed away a bit, but not too far.

"Be careful," he said as he turned his head to look at me. The hood on his head hid his blue eyes.

"Sorry," I repeated. "I thought you left me behind and I couldn't see with all this fog. It seems to be getting thicker everytime."

"All the more for us to hurry," he said as he continued on his way. I quickly followed.

"Okay."

I didn't say anything more as we continued our walk. This time, the fog's so thick. I couldn't see a thing.

"Ryan," I called out to him. "Do you think it will be okay if I hold on to your cloak or something? I'm afraid I'll get lost."

I heard him scoff. I rolled my eyes. So typical of him.

"I'm serious," I said as I looked at his back that wasn't so visible anymore. "What will happen if we end up getting separated?"

"Just stick with me and you'll be fine," he said.

"It's hard to do so with all this fog. You're really being unfair, you know."

He didn't answer, and that felt like my cue to be quiet. I continued to follow him, but it became difficult everytime. Not only was the fog getting thicker, it felt like the hedges around us were too close, making our path look too narrow.

"How much further till we get there?" I asked. "Ryan?"

I didn't get a response as I continued to walk. A terrifying thought ran through my mind. He isn't in front of me anymore, is he?