***
I walked until I faced the door that lead outside. I pushed it open and paused for a moment, inhaling deeply. As I exhaled I stepped into the night. I took a step closer to my father.
***
I started centering my focus as I continued forward. The light disappeared behind me as I entered the maze. If my father had been watching me there was no doubt in my mind as to where he would be holding them captive. In my one sanctuary. The one place I held onto as mine.
The world seemed to go silent as I put my first step into the maze. The steady murmur of crickets disappeared. The sound of leaves rustling stopped. The silence seemed to pound in on my ears. The only sound came from me, my breath.
I slowed my breathing down so that it was as silent as the world around me, though my heart continued to race faster and faster. I stepped forward, in position to be attacked from anywhere. The twists and turns carried me through the maze as I followed my mental map to the center of the maze. I had to start there.
A rustle of the bushes. I flinched and turned, ready to attack. The leaves could do me no harm. A snap of a small twig. Another flinch, another harmless piece of nature. He had to know I was here. Where was that bastard.
I reached the path toward one entrance to the center. I pull up tight against the bushes, protecting my back. I pull up next to the entrance, listening for any sound of life. They had to be alive. My heart caught in my throat. I glanced up into the sky. The cloudy sky obscured the light of the moon. I would have to rely on my senses other than sight more readily.
I slipped my blade into my hand silently as I took a deep inhale just as soundlessly. As I let it out I turned the corner, hoping my beating heart hadn't already given me away.
The opposite side of the maze faced me. The moonlight faintly struck the ground and benches, creating jagged lines and large black holes. Footing would be tricky in the unknown.
I glanced around one more time. How could he not be here? Where the fuck was he? Where the hell should I go now?
A rustle to my right, the snap of a twig. Was my father forcing me that way? Was he leading me into a trap? I had no choice to follow even if it was. I couldn't let them suffer for me. That asshole would get exactly what he wanted if it saved them.
I followed each sound that was out of place. Each twig moved, each leaf rustled, each crunch in the dirt. Nothing that was out of the ordinary. Everything that stood out.
I rounded a corner and faced a wall of dark green and black. There was nowhere for me to go, nowhere to turn. I was trapped just as he would want. I held my head high and walked straight to the end of the walkway. I turn my back and face where I just came from. He would at least have to face me before attacking.
I crouched, ready for the inevitable attack. My heart pounded, my breath caught in my throat. The silence was once again too loud to bear. One minute passed. Sweat trickled down my back. Two minutes passed. My muscles are knotting, my body protesting against being so tense. Three minutes passed.
A sound to my left, barely discernable. I snap my head in that direction, ready for something, anything to happen. Four minutes passed. Another sound to my left. I half turn my body this time, ready to attack the bushes if necessary.
Just as I am about to move through the hedge if necessary, my body is jerked back the other way. I'm pulled back through the hedge.
Branches scratched my body through the fabric. As I am pulled out to the other side I can feel the blood start to pour down. I would tire faster now. I had to preserve my energy.
