Reflection Of My First Path

“You’re at what we call ‘The Maze.’ Here let me show you around. Over there, that is the main house, that is the farm, those are the woods, and those big doors, they’re the entrance to the maze. Do not go in there.”

Seeing as there was nowhere else to go, you shuffled over to the opening and frowned. It was dark and you could just barely make out a doorway to what was most likely another room. What really threw you off guard was how nicely the doorway was carved. An intricate pattern wove itself around the exit. Did that mean… someone else was here? At the thought of possibly being able to get out of here with the help of another person made you scurry over to the patterned doorway with little hesitation. The sleeves of your two-sizes-too-big sweater fell down to wrap loosely around your forearms when you reach over and grabbed the wall to peak around into the next area.

• On page 89, “Come whenever you feel like it. Be careful; the stairs and landings are dark; don’t stumble.” How might this be interpreted?

My legs are shaking with pain, but I need to know where I am and what strange things lie outside of that door way. Slowly I am making my way there, I hear people having a conversation just outside. I haven’t a clue what they are saying, it seems to be in some odd language. Finally I’m at the door. Terrified, I grab the knob and start to open it. It squeaks when I swing it open. In the hall I see no one, just white walls with white tile. “What the,” I say to out loud. I could have sworn I heard someone. My eye catches my room number, 387, it has my name on it. I look right and left, but see nothing expect florescent lighting and shut doors. I go to the door across from mine and try to open it. Locked, that’s odd. I try the next one, locked once again. I keep going, now at room 365 I give the knob a turn and it actually comes open. I hesitantly wander into the area. It looks the same as mine, minus the painting on one of the walls. It is an extremely abnormal painting. It depicts an out of the ordinary creature. “Why would this be in a hospital?” I whisper to myself.

“And that,” he said, “is the Path, laid by Time Safari for your use… Stay on the Path. Don’t go off it. I repeat. Don’t go off. For any

I proceed past the desk and down a long narrow hallway. It was dark like a haunted house. I twirl my key in my hand.

I saw no one. Not a living person was near the cliff. No one could see me if I just walked through the barrier undetected. My gut told me to go back, and get my friends, that I shouldn’t go through the barbed wire gates without someone by my side. But my head was stronger, and I carelessly walked in. Behind the barbed wire gates was an area in the city I’d never seen or remembered the last time I lived there. It looked like one of those military sectors mixed with a secret science lab. The place was enclosed in gates all around. Most of the land was filled with white warehouses and small buildings. What is this place? What is this place? What is this place? Don’t trust this place. This place is dangerous. Stop walking. Stop being annoying and leave. They are after you.

Hell, If I could, I would have turned right around. But I couldn’t. There was still something blocking my free will. It wanted me to go inside one of the buildings. Seconds later I feel the same force dragging me towards the A lettered building. 4 windows covered with dust shadow the view from the inside. I can barely make out the structures inside. Obviously everything was abandoned, so the sound of nothingness, not even the wind, was very eery. I arrived to the front entrance. You could clearly see how old everything was. The brick and concrete were beginning to crumble, chunks of rock falling from the building's sides. A large rusty chain was keeping the twin metal doors locked with a simple padlock on them. The rust seemed as though it was severe. A simple pull and the whole thing came apart with the lock on the ground. “How long has this been here?”, i question. Rust shouldn’t have weakened the metal that much. My legs alert me once more and I continue forward march. Through the twin doors, I was in what looked like an old, burned office. There was a receptionists desk in front of me charred black, filing cabinets all around were also charred. Everything in there was burnt to a crisp. There was no smell in there, so this was not recent. I continued up to some metal stairs which made some uneasy noises. Once up there was only one place to go, a conference room of sorts. Charred tables and chairs, but my legs keep me moving. They take me

I jolt awake. “Must have been a bad dream” I thought to myself. I looked around and was shocked at my surroundings. A destroyed hospital room. The paint on the walls is peeling and it smells like old sheets and medicine. The beds are covered in rust and pieces of the ceiling have fallen on the floor. The room is dark, but the sun is shining through the barricaded windows. I rip the needles out of my arms and struggle to stand up. I put on my clothes that were still neatly folded under the bed. I walk out of the room. There were blood stains on the wall and random hospital supplies thrown on the floor. My heart starts to race. I try to think of what could have happened. While I was thinking I was snapped out of my thoughts by a banging behind me. I turn around to see a door, bolted shut. I decide not to open it. I begin to walk

Using his hands against the grey tinged, rough and dusty wall he slowly finds the door. He stumbles for a second against the feeling of his feet sinking into plush carpet. He steadies himself, deciding to completely ignore the foreign feeling shifting underneath his feet. Slowly he moves through his cottage trying to visualise each wall and obstacle that may get in his way. He seems to crash into every single object that he owns. Clumsily he finally makes it to the door.

Then suddenly, a disconcerting fear latches onto your cold shoulder holding you tight. What if these walls eat you alive? What if the only things you will ever see ever again are the scuffed tile floors, plain walls, and flickering fluorescent lights? The fear makes your head spin, yet it yanks you back to this moment with its boney, thin, gray

Which it may be just me, but when I think of codes I think “Oh, a number sequence, okay,” and the fact that the code was six words and not six numbers. I did like the idea of overlapping the maps to see what it spelt out (page 277) because it was absolutely genius. Personally, I would’ve never thought to do that and if I used only numbers I’d still be out in the maze trying to crack the code based on the sections. Another thing I would never do is actually try so hard to get out of the maze; until the day came that the walls didn’t close, I wouldn’t do anything. Most likely, I wouldn’t even do whatever job I was assigned to do. Literally, it’s sad that I give up when things get hard and that I’m so cowardly and lazy. Like these are kids around my age, running a stable and functioning society and here I am writing a paper an hour before it’s due. They have jobs and are cracking codes and memorizing patterns. I can’t remember a five sentence paragraph. It’s just insane to me that even though this is a fiction story, they have so much motivation. I realize that there are kids in real life, even in classes with me, that are on top of their work and know exactly what the want to do; they have actual plans and goals. Goals scare me; the thought of doing anything risky or possibly failing is terrifying to me. Let’s not get me started on them risking their lives. At this point, if I had to choose between

\That’s it, you are running again. Back through the alley, you don’t remember where you came from, but then again there’s nothing to go back to. The path twists and splits every hundred feet or so, you choose the path of least resistance, or in this case, the least overgrown.

Damian had walked over and pick me up putting me over his shoulder, I was recoiling, but I hadn't the power to yell, I still felt a little faintness. “Do I have to carry you too?" Damian said with an eyebrow up, like he knew what his answer was already. My brother shake his head no and said “I’ll go, you don't have to worry." Out the door we all went, we went through the lobby and downstairs. Everything was silent and clean, different from the room we were just in. The chill air had gone away by now, but I tell you what, it felt even more dangerous than it did before. It was a calm night like it was intended for just Lucas and me. We went pass the entrance door and out to the field of grass, by this period I had stop recoiling. There was a nice breeze in the air, the moon shining down on us like giving us a path to walk.

At the eight-mile mark I reached “the wall”, I seemed to be making no progress through the sprawling farm fields and there was a sharp pain in my knees. The only thought that was going through my mind was to finish, so I put my head down and kept running. Two miles later, the black asphalt gave way to grey concrete of the town. I emptied my mind and kept my current pace, not allowing myself to