S E V E N T E E N
Lights, Camera, Action

THE CLOWN FIASCO had, needless to say, shaken me up considerably. Less than fifteen minutes had passed since I escaped the lunatic in a rainbow suit but that fact alone did not make me feel any better. If Death had placed clowns as his first line of attack, and the saying of 'saving the best for the last' was true, then by golly I'm in for a delightful treat with each second ticking by.

I was a ticking time bomb here.

Death had made sure to remind me time and time again that my hours were ticking by. Every few minutes or so, a loud ring would ensue, reverberating across the span of the maze to signify that a certain amount of time had already passed. I could feel his cameras and eyes on me, just waiting to sip up any bit of action that he might squeeze out of this morbid entertainment show.

Furthermore, I do not know when it happened or even why it was so but my watch had stopped working. The hands were no longer moving as it used to, and this made everything a whole lot worse than of before. I could only assume that it was due to the fact that I was no longer in the human realm that had caused such a phenomenon to happen. Due to this unfortunate turn of events – in which I have all the doubt that it was natural – there was no possible way for me to keep track of the time.

This change was disruptive. I had become too obsessed with checking my watch every few minutes the very second in which Death had placed a countdown towards the end of my life and this screw up was meddling with my nerves, plucking at my fears one at a time as I started to slip away from sanity.

I needed to find my way out of this maze, and quick.

The 'jump through the hedge' trick had certainly come with repercussions as I no longer know which way forward exactly is. I had taken a random guess and ran in the direction in which I was met with a blockade before jumping through the hedge. And soon down the journey, I was met with yet another fork in the road. This time, in contrast to what I might have chosen on a normal day where there wasn't a time bomb strapped right on my back, I went towards the road less taken.

Today was, of course, not a normal day. I am desperate, and nothing about desperation is normal.

Desperation is an obsession, a crazy need due to infatuation or fear. I fear what I do not know, and as a girl that knew every little thing all the way down to the dirty little secrets of my every schoolmate back in both high school and in college, this was a fear I was not accustomed to. Being so used to knowing makes one vulnerable when left in the dark. And tonight, I had never felt any more lost as compared to the times before.

It was like a contagious and deadly disease that ate away at my insides, gnawing at my bones as I begged for mercy. The feeling was close to having this nagging presentiment in one's stomach about a disaster that was about to strike at any given time.

Through this past couple of days, I had felt things in which I previously thought were impossible. Things such as fear, regret, helplessness, and much more. Being at the top of the food chain constantly meant that fear was not something that consumed me. It was a weapon in my hands against the less fortunate. Hence, such an emotion of discomposure was not something in which my body was accustomed to and knew how to properly manage and deal with accordingly.

With fear came the risky decisions. There was no time for me to sit there and ponder over which was the lesser of two evils. As a ticking time bomb that did not have the luxury of plentiful hours to waste and burn, I had to make decisions at breakneck speed. Resentfully, not only that, such decisions would also have to be a favorable wholesome and secure outcome.

There was no place for even the slightest probability or likelihood of danger. This is because these decisions in which I am forced to make would be equivalent to gambling with my own life as a bet.

Be that as it may, I still made a risky bet and took the right turn out of two choices.

Of course, I wasn't sure if I would run into Mr. Freaky Clown again. Heck, I wasn't even sure if I was going in the right direction. But this was a maze, and in mazes, there were no clues. There was nothing that could possibly help me but pure wit and nerve to try new paths. And that was what I was depending on.

Minimal wit and a bunch of nerves and hopefully luck.

When the winds howled right by my ear again, I could feel my ears pricking to attention as I quickened my pace, eyes darting around as I spied for anything out of the ordinary. The last time the winds picked up, I was met with a killer clown with a sadistic thirst for blood. This time, I wasn't quite sure what Death had in store up his sleeves.

But I, however, am sure that I do not want to know.

My pace picked up from a normal walk to a slow jog, taking random turns without consideration as I hoped for the best. I was simply running on my luck by now, not even stopping to think if the path I had taken was a tactical one.

The air was getting colder, thinner, as I raced against all odds in an attempt to find the center of the maze. The grass below me was starting to crunch due to the sudden change in temperature. Although they were not exactly frosting or freezing just yet, I knew that the drop in temperature signified and confirmed the existence of those ghoulish projections in the maze with me.

Just like the fact that the clown had been present to speed things up and add in a little more adrenaline and excitement to this sadistic savagery of a show, the ghouls were also present. These projections would do more harm than the clown by comparison because, by default, they represent Death and their kiss would end my life if they had a chance to linger long enough. Since these ghouls are projections and personifications of the abilities of the four horsemen, this meant that they are the default representations of the respective spirits.

I was very much lost when the glittering of a bright light source caught my eye past the next bend. As a result of that, I slowed down to a cautious walk. This seemed too good, too easy. The light was shining brightly, situated at the next left turn, and it illuminated down the path. From where I stood, I could not see the source of the light, and I had two options.

My first option was to turn left towards the path that had a fork where the light originated from. Since the light was bright and shining, it meant that the power source was nearer than imagined. Or, I also had the choice to simply ignore the light and walk straight ahead, not even bothering to turn into the bend.

The last time we encountered an orb, the thing was glowing brighter than the Fourth of July. Its radiant power illuminated almost the entire bar area, and when crushed, the thing shone nearly as brightly as my mother's face when I came home with the first A grade on a class test. If there was even a one percent chance that the light could be the orb, there was no way that I wouldn't take it.

Besides, it was an undeniable fact that almost every girl – me in particular – loves a good shine and sparkle.

Posing the pistol tightly in my hands, I began to walk forward, eyeing the area for any signs of trouble. When I reached the curve where the path once again splits into two, I turned a little to face the left opening, grinning in delight when there really was a round green shining ball-shaped jewel resting upon a literal marble pedestal.

However, as I had predicted, Death wouldn't make it so easy for me. A familiar wail came, and the temperature dropped significantly low as the grass patch right by my toes began to freeze beyond just a simple layer of frost. I did not even need to look up to know what was coming. Instead, my legs moved as quickly as possible, sprinting with full speed towards the little ball of light as another howl came from the ghoul, letting out a screech that could rip ears right out of the sides of peoples' heads.

The scene was all too familiar. With the chill racing against me in a game of tag, the presence of the ghoul was growing alarmingly near while the orb seemed a little too far away for comfort. On an impulse based solely on instinct, I turned back for a second, placing my finger on the trigger before pulling and watching the bullet zip straight through the air. Due to the fact that I was still running for my life, the bullet only hit the creature's shoulder, slowing it down but not stopping it completely, or better yet chase it away.

It was still heading straight towards me, all while letting out an ear-piercing screech that could probably shatter glass windows in an instant.

The orb was just a hair's breadth away now, but before I could graze it, a bony hand rested on my shoulder, its hard edges digging into my flesh as it spun me around. All of a sudden, I was hit by the same feeling I had felt back in the boathouse. The sharp throb of a headache smashed at my skull in full force, and I could feel all the air in my lungs being sucked away.

Dropping to the ground, I could faintly register the twinkling clink of the orb hitting against the pedestal and dropping onto the grass, not quite broken yet.

Its lips were nearing my face, and as I struggled to get away from its invisible hold, I too began to reach for the orb, fingers stretching over the grass as my stomach churned in pain. It felt as though my guts were being cleaned right out, along with the rest of my mind. With each breath that escaped my lungs, I could feel myself slowly slipping out of consciousness, my mind blackening for a second before coming back into reality. My vision was starting to be filled with black dots all over, signifying that I was in drastic need of air.

When the feeling of a cold round marble touched my hand, I immediately curled my fingers around it, smashing it against the marble pedestal as hard as I could as a blinding white light filled my vision. Air returned to my lungs, rushing in rapidly as my vision started to blur even further. Though I was allowed the sweet breath of air, it was still not enough for me to regain my full strength as of before the ghoul's imaginary lips hovered over mine.

Somewhere in the background, I could hear the ghoul shrieking, rushing away as it glided through the air. The cold started to melt away as warmth took its place. Beneath me, I could faintly register the feeling of water as the frost and ice started to melt into its liquid state.

As the white light that was created by the smashing of the orb receded, darkness took its place as a void of pitch black greeted me, my mind numb to the world. I sighed, eyes closing shut as my mind slipped further and further away from my grasp and down the rabbit hole.

Even though the awake and rational side of my mind was screaming at me to get back up, I knew that it was impossible. I was just another pawn in Death's game of chess and the game master still wanted to play.

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