Short Fiction: After Dark

Oct 25, 2010 22:42

It's been a pretty insane couple of weeks and this one is going to take that to a whole new level, so this might be my only post for the week.  But I really wanted to write a story for Halloween so I snuck in some time here and there and this is what I got.  Hope you enjoy it.  : )



I got this photo here.

After Dark

“No one is allowed in the corn maze after dark,” Mr. Harrow told Addy when he hired her.  “No exceptions.”
    That suited Addy just fine.  It was the reason she’d applied in the first place.  Harrow Farm was the only one in the area that didn’t do the haunted corn maze thing.  Everyone else competed with each other to see who had the spookiest mazes.  By day, it was all family fun, but come nightfall, it was an exercise in terror.  It was weird, really, the way some people loved to scare the snot out of themselves.  Not Addy.  She hated horror movies, always left the room when people told ghost stories, and still slept with a nightlight.  So no, it didn’t bother her one bit that Mr. Harrow’s Fall Fest activities ended at sundown. 
    Mr. Harrow gave her strict instructions to let no one pass-for any reason-after five o’clock.  She had to keep meticulous count of how many people entered and make sure the same number of people left.  If anyone was still inside after six, under no circumstances was she to go in after them.  Instead, she had to call for Mr. Harrow. 
    So far, she’d only had to send him after stragglers once.  “No harm done,” Mr. Harrow had said.  But Addy could have sworn she saw a nervous glint in his eyes as he glanced at the rapidly setting sun.  “Cutting it close,” he’d muttered.  Then he blinked and when he looked back at Addy, he seemed fine. 
   
A week later, Addy waited for the last group to exit the maze.  She leaned her elbows on the ticket booth and watched all the families finish up the last of their activities, many of them saving the pumpkin patch for last.  It’d been a gorgeous autumn day with a hint of sharpness to the October air.  Flaming colors of dry leaves littered the ground, crackling and crunching under dozens of feet.  A light breeze stirred the corn stalks; their rustling sounded like whispers. 
    “Hey.  Addy, right?” someone said, startling her out of her thoughts. 
    She looked up to see Bryce, her longtime crush, and his friends heading toward her.  She fought the urge to smooth her hair.  “H-hi,” she stammered. 
    Bryce crossed his arms and leaned toward her, smiling.  Her stomach somersaulted and her eyes darted between her hands, his face, the ground, his mouth, the ticket booth, his hair, never focusing on one thing for more than an instant. 
    “You working here?” he asked.
    “Uh-huh.” 
    “Cool.”  He jerked his head toward the maze entrance.  “So you been through it yet?”
    “No,” she said.  “But I get free cider.”  She groaned inwardly.  Why had she said that?  It was so stupid! 
    “Why not?”
    She made sure her mouth and brain were on the same wavelength before answering.  “There’s no time when I’m working and Mr. Harrow doesn’t want anyone in there after dark.”
    “That’s right,” Mark, one of Bryce’s friends, said.  “This is the lame farm that doesn’t do the haunted corn maze.”
    “Yeah, why is that?” Jen, Mark’s girlfriend, asked. 
    Addy shrugged.  Mr. Harrow never said and she hadn’t cared enough to ask.  
    “That sucks.” Alex, Bryce’s other friend, said.  Sheila, Alex’s girlfriend, pouted in agreement.  “It’s supposed to be the biggest corn maze in the area,” Alex added.  “It’s gotta be awesomely scary at night.  Hey, maybe Addy can let us in.”
    Addy was already shaking her head no when Bryce turned his grin on her. 
    “Yeah, Addy, what do you say?”
    “I can’t.” She hated telling him no.  Wanted so badly to say yes, give him a reason to like her.  “I’m sorry.  It’s against the rules.  The entrance closes at five.”
    “Looks open to me,” Mark said.
    “I’m not supposed to let anyone in.”
    “Aw, come on.”  Bryce shot her puppy dog eyes.  “Just this once?” 
    She gripped the booth tightly as her resolve weakened. 
     “No one will know unless you tell them,” Alex said.
     They wheedled and pushed at her some more and she finally caved.  She glanced over to see Mr. Harrow was busy and sighed.  “All right, fine.  But if I get in trouble, you owe me big time.”
     “No worries,” Bryce said.  He squeezed her hand and a rush of heat swept through her.  “You’re the best, Addy,” he called as he ran inside.  Mark waved his thanks from the entrance, the light from the setting sun glinting off his class ring.
     For the next half hour, Addy’s stomach twisted with dread.  When Mr. Harrow came by to check for stragglers, she was terrified he’d know she was lying when she said everyone had made it out.  But he just nodded and told her she could leave as soon as she’d finished closing her station down. 
     She took her time, hoping Bryce and his friends would come out soon.  By the time she was ready to leave though, there’d been no sign of them and Bryce’s car was still in the parking lot.  She couldn’t go until she knew they’d made it out okay.  So she grabbed a flashlight from her car and trudged back to the corn maze. 
     “I knew this was a bad idea,” she whispered.  She’d tried calling them, but no one had answered.  She debated telling Mr. Harrow but really didn’t want to get in trouble.  As long as Bryce and his friends finished the maze soon, they could all go home without getting caught.  It should only be a few minutes more.
     Of course, someone had to scream right then.  The sound sent chills racing up her spine and she almost turned and bolted.  Only her sense of responsibility kept her in place.  It was her fault anyone was in the maze after dark and whatever happened to them now was her fault too. 
    “This is like a bad horror movie,” she said aloud.  “I’m going to be the stupid girl who goes in even though everyone knows she’s going to die.” 
    She inched toward the entrance, her fingers tightening around the flashlight.  Already blood pounded in her ears and her breath came out in ragged puffs.  She closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe slow and deep. 
    “It’s okay, Addy,” she told herself.  “It’s okay.  Just get them out and go home.  There’s nothing to be scared of.”  Before she could talk herself out of it, she stepped inside. 
    The flashlight cast long shadows on the narrow path.  A few yards in, she came to a crossroads.  She shined the light in both directions but saw nothing.  It wasn’t too late to turn around and leave Bryce and his friends to their fate.  After all, they were the ones who insisted on breaking the rules.  Even if she hadn’t given into them, they’d have probably snuck in anyway.  But that wouldn’t be right.  She had to find them.
    She took the left path and not more than a few turns later that she heard another scream.  She ran.  Around one corner then another and another then smack!  Right into something big and solid.  She screamed and fell back, dropping the flashlight.  She scrambled around on the ground, her fingers searching for it.  Her nails scratched against the textured metal, sending more chills through her body.  She brandished the light like a sword and gasped in relief.
    “Alex!” 
    “Addy?” he said.  “What are you doing here?”
    “I...I heard screaming and I thought...” she trailed off when Jen yelped as Mark leap out from the cornstalks, his fingers curved in like claws.  He started chasing Jen who kept shrieking, this time with laughter mixed in.
    “Oh...” Addy said.  She put her hand over her eyes, not sure if she was relieved that everything was okay, or angry that they were just playing around.  “Knock it off, you guys, before you get me in trouble.”
    “Come on,” Sheila said, “it’s not like we’re hurting anything.”
    “Yeah,” Mark added.  “We just wanted to wait until it was really dark.  Makes it spookier that way.”  He grabbed Jen around the waist, drawing another annoying shriek from her. 
     Addy rolled her eyes.  “If Mr. Harrow finds out I let you in here, he’ll fire me.”
     “We can’t have that,” Bryce said.  “Besides, it’s plenty dark so let’s get going.”
      The others grumbled but followed Bryce’s lead.  They kept laughing and goofing off.  Addy quickly lost her patience for it and hurried ahead of them.  After a few minutes though, she stopped. 
     “Listen,” she said.  “Do you guys hear that?”
     “Hear what?” Bryce asked.
     “I thought I heard something creaking.”
     He shushed the others and concentrated.  “It’s just the wind.”
     She shook her head.  “It feels like we’re being watched or something”
    Mark laughed.  “Yeah, by the man in the moon.  What’s the matter?  You scared?”
    “I don’t know about you guys,” Alex jumped in, “but I’m starting to feel a little claustrophobic so can we just get out of here, or what?”
   There was a loud snap.  Addy jumped and whirled around.  She raised her flashlight but couldn’t see anything.
    “What was that?” Alex asked.  He sounded nervous. 
    She turned back to the others and gasped.  “Um, Alex?  Where’d everybody go?”  It was just the two of them.  Bryce and the others had just disappeared. 
    “Okay, guys,” Alex called.  “Ha, ha.  Very funny.  You can come out now.”
    Nothing.  Just the corn stalks swaying overhead.  Except...  they weren’t just swaying.  They were moving.  Shifting closer and closer.  Closing in on them.  Alex followed her gaze the color drained from his face.  He froze as though he’d looked right into the eyes of Medusa.         
    “Alex, come on!”  She tugged on his hand.  They ran, the stalks thrashing and whipping about in a frenzy as it rushed after them.  She glanced over her shoulder to see a solid wall of corn blocking the route they’d just taken.  Alex dropped her hand and sped up.  She struggled to keep up with him.   
    The path narrowed with every step she took and her light bounced around in front of her, making it hard to see.  She rounded a corner and tripped on a root.  Her pants tore at the knee when she hit the ground.  Her foot was caught and she had trouble getting up. 
    “Help!” she yelled but Alex just kept going.  She glanced behind her, certain the maze had caught up with her.  It was no longer moving.  The groaning sound it’d made as it chased after them had stopped too.  Even so, she didn’t want to waste any time getting away.  Just in case. 
    Alex was waiting for her around the next corner.  “Let’s go, Addy,” he said impatiently.  “I wanna get out of here.”
    “We have to find the others first, before anything else happens.” 
    They walked close together.  Alex was still pale and visibly shaking.  He actually looked more freaked out than she felt.  It was weird seeing the varsity football star so scared. 
    They came to an intersection.  Before they could decide with path to take, the eerie silence that had built up over the last few minutes was broken by hysterical screams.  Addy and Alex shared a nervous glance then ran toward the sound.  They found Jen dancing and leaping around like a crazed monkey, flailing her arms and crying.  Addy shone the flashlight on Jen and barely suppressed her own scream when she saw the reason why.  Spiders, dozens of them-many as large as her fist-crawled all over Jen.  Even more flooded the ground at her feet. 
    “Get them off!  Get them off!” Jen shrieked. 
    Alex rushed forward and began swatting at the eight-legged monstrosities.  “Hold still,” he commanded, but Jen was too busy freaking out to obey. 
    Addy backed up a few steps, afraid of getting too near the spiders.  She shuddered and fought the urge to slap at her body.  Her skin and scalp itched with that horrible creepy-crawly feeling even though nothing touched her.  Swallowing back a wave of disgust, she yanked at the nearest corn stalk.  It took a little effort, but she broke it in half and used it to sweep the spiders away from Jen. 
    As soon as the spiders were gone, Jen threw herself at Alex, sobbing even harder. 
    “Th-they c-came out of n-nowhere.”  Jen shivered, her fists bunching up the front of Alex’s shirt.  “They w-were all o-over m-me.  I h-hate sp-spiders!”
    “It’s okay,” Alex soothed.  “They’re gone now.  But we have to find the others.  Do you know where they are?”
    Jen shook her head. “One m-minute we were all together, the n-next, I was all alone here and the sp-spiders came.”
    “The others could be anywhere, then,” Addy said.
    Mark looked grim.  “Then we’d better hurry.”   
    Addy’s dread grew the deeper into the maze they went.  What were they going to find next?  They didn’t have to wait long to find out.
    The path widened the further toward the center they got until they couldn’t see the maze walls anymore.  A shadowy figure stood in front of them.  With shaky hands, Addy lifted the flashlight and centered it on the figure. 
    “I think that’s Bryce,” Alex said.
    Addy sighed in relief.  “Great!  Now we just need to find Mark and Sheila.”  She hurried over to Bryce, Alex and Jen right behind her. 
    Just as she reached him, her foot slipped, touching nothing but air.  Her body lurched forward and she wind-milled her arms as she fought to regain her balance.  A hand grabbed her shoulder and jerked her back. 
    “Whoa,” Alex said, still holding onto her.  “Where’d the ground go?”
    There was nothing but a gaping hole before them.  Wide and so deep, she couldn’t see the bottom.  It took up the entire center of the corn maze.
    “Who in their right mind would plant corn around this thing?” she asked. 
    “It wasn’t there before,” Bryce whispered.  He still hadn’t moved.  “It just appeared.”
    “Dude,” Alex said, “Why are you just standing here?  Why didn’t you go around?”
    Bryce didn’t say anything for a long moment.  Finally, so quietly Addy had to strain to hear it, he said, “I’m afraid of heights.” 
    “If it makes you feel any better,” Jen said, “I’m terrified of spiders and I just had a million of them all over me.”
    Bryce slowly turned to look at her.  “Really?”
    “Yeah.  Alex saved me.”  So had Addy, but heaven forbid Jen mention that.
    “And before that,” Alex added, “the maze was closing in on us.” 
    “What?” Bryce asked.
    “Yeah, dude.  It sucked.”  He shuddered. 
    Bryce inched away from the edge.  Once he was safely away, he sat on the ground with his head between his legs.  “Give me a minute.  I’m dizzy.” 
    “Is it just me,” Addy asked, “or are our worst fears coming true in here?”
    “That’s crazy,” Jen said.
     “So is everything else that’s happened tonight,” Bryce said.  He looked at Addy.  “What about you?  Have you faced your fear yet?”
    “No.  I don’t know.  Maybe?  I mean, I’m kind of afraid of everything.”
    “Wonderful,” Jen said sarcastically. 
    Addy ignored her.  “We still have to find Mark and Sheila.” 
    “If you’re right about the fear thing,” Bryce said, “What’s going to happen when we find them?”
    “I don’t think I want to know,” Alex said.  Then he inhaled sharply.  “Oh no, Sheila!” 
    “We’ll find her, don’t worry,” Addy said.
     “No, you don’t understand.  She’s had a messed up past.  You have no idea.”  He took off and the rest of them had to sprint to catch up.
    It took them far too long to circumvent the hole in the middle of the cornfield.  They finally got past it though and a few minutes later, they found Sheila.  She was on the ground, curled in a ball and whimpering.  Alex immediately knelt at her side, gathering her into his arms. 
    “Shhh,” he said.  “It’s okay.  I’m here.”
    Sheila trembled so hard, worse than when Jen had the spiders all over her.  And yet, when Addy looked around, she couldn’t see anything scary.
    “He’s here,” Sheila whispered.  “He found me.”
    “Who’s here?” Addy asked.
    “Quiet!” Sheila snapped.  She stiffened in Alex’s arms, her head jerking up as though she heard something.  “We have to hide.  Now!”  She broke free and ran around the corner before anyone could stop her.  Seconds later, she gave a bloodcurdling scream.
    “Sheila!” Alex yelled, chasing after her, the rest of them only an instant behind.
    Sheila stood frozen in the middle of the path, staring at a hooded figure a few feet in front of her, a large knife gleaming in his hand. 
    Addy gasped, her heart leaping into her throat.  She grabbed Bryce’s arm. 
    The figure pushed back his hood, revealing a twisted and scarred face.  Sheila screamed again.  She tried to back up, but tripped and fell, sobbing uncontrollably.  She scuttled backward as the knife-wielding maniac lunged at her.  Alex grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the way just in time.  Everyone turned and ran for their lives. 
    Addy dropped the flashlight.  The sudden absence of light startled her.  She stumbled.  An arm snaked around her neck and jerked her backward. 
    “Help!” she cried as the maniac pressed his sharp blade against her throat. 
    The sound of running didn’t fade.  They weren’t stopping for her.  Granted, she wasn’t their friend, but she’d helped them.  All of them, in spite of her fears.  And now that she needed them, they were gone. 
    “Please,” she whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks. 
    The knife bit into her skin and she squeezed her eyes closed.  This was it.  She really was going to die in this stupid maze.
    Bright light shone through her eyelids and she blinked them open. 
    “Let her go!” Bryce shouted.  He’d come back for her!  He held the flashlight like a club and took a step forward.
    The knife cut deeper and she flinched.  Bryce stopped.  He looked unsure what to do next.  Then the acrid stench of smoke filled the maze.  Bryce’s eyes widened in shock as he looked past them.  An eerie red glow swept over him, followed by a drawn-out, inhuman yell. 
      Still holding onto her, the maniac turned to look.  She gasped and the maniac loosened his hold on her as a fiery blur hurtled toward them.  No, not a blur, a person covered in flames.  Bryce leapt forward and pulled her to safety.  They fell into the corn as the maniac threw his knife and the human fireball dropped to the ground. 
     Addy clung to Bryce, unable to take her eyes off what she suspected, but prayed wasn’t Mark as the fire consumed him.  When the flames died, all that was left were ashes and the knife. 
     The maniac bent to retrieve his knife and Bryce charged him, swinging the flashlight.  It cracked against the maniac’s skull and he went down.  Bryce hit him a couple more times for good measure.  Then he stood there, staring at the dead body and pile of ashes. 
      Addy crept toward him.  Without looking at her, Bryce held out his arm.  He pulled her against his side, holding her tightly.  Neither of them spoke for several minutes.  Finally, he knelt to pick something up. 
      “It was Mark,” he said, his voice wooden.  “This is his ring.”  He held out his palm, the same class ring she’d seen on Mark’s hand earlier resting in the center of it.  “I guess he was afraid of fire.”
      “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
      “Let’s just get out of here.”  He took her hand and led her away. 
     They didn’t have far to go.  They’d been so close to the exit.  So unbearably close.  The others waited a few yards away, huddled together, still shaken from their ordeal.  Mr. Harrow stood in front of them, watching for her and Bryce. 
      “Where’s Mark?” Jen asked. 
     Bryce shook his head.  She stared at him, confused at first, but then she clapped her hand over her mouth.  It didn’t block out her grief-stricken cries though.  Alex caught her as she sank to the ground. 
      “Why?” Addy asked Mr. Harrow after she’d told him what happened.  “Why do you keep the maze?”
      “I’ve tried to get rid of it before,” he said, “but it always comes back after dark.”

short fiction, in a sharing mood

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