Wordcount: 572
Quote:
The Least Traveled Path (12) : In addition to the beautiful seasonal displays, the local botanical garden has set up a beautiful winter maze. Dense, lopsided fir trees that couldn’t be sold for holiday decor have been utilized to create the walls. The ability to disappear in the maze is impressive; the trees are so dense that it’s impossible to see through them, and if you try to push through them you’ll only wind up scratching or cutting yourself. You’re never really too far from the entrance or exit, and you can hear the voices of other people exploring the maze, or the celebrations at the festively decorated pavilion, but the deeper you get, the further away from all of those things you feel. For a moment, it feels like you’ve wandered into some alternate universe; the voices disappear and you feel alone. You can’t hear anyone–and they can’t hear you. You can’t see anything over the tall maze walls, and no matter where you go, you can’t seem to find your way out. Everything starts to feel cold and distant–and then suddenly all color, all smells, all sounds return. You still feel a little out of place but it’s nothing you can’t shake off. If you could just find your way out of here, first.
The toddler was sleeping soundly in her stroller, bundled up against the cold. Nate checked on her and moved deeper into the snow maze. They had just spent so long checking out the celebration the city was holding, being rather wary of any magical shenanigans that might happen but when the nearly two year old started to droop Nate knew it was time for a nap. By the time he got the fussy little girl into her stroller it was clear that she needed some sleep and he needed some quiet, there was no way he was going to get her into the car let alone back into their apartment without going deaf or bonkers. So he did the next best thing he could think of, he went towards the quietest place he could find. The winter maze.
The dense fir trees muffled even the most piercing screeches of kids playing, especially the people over at the pavilion they had decorated for the season, he could still hear them but it was so much quieter. The people who were also in the maze were much louder, he could have sworn they were just one ‘wall’ over but even that faded away as he continued to take turns at random. Every so often he would pass by a person, or a group, only to motion with a finger to his lips that they needed to be quiet. Generally he got smiles back but almost university, everyone slipped past without a word, just a peak at the soundly sleeping toddler.
But the deeper he went, the deeper into the maze they both went, the further away the sounds got. There were fewer and fewer people too. Finally, almost suddenly, Nate realized he wasn’t hearing anyone any more. No more distant screaming, or chatter from people just on the other side of the ‘walls’. Sarah and he were all alone. There was no one there. Curious, he tried to see through the maze walls, but couldn’t see over them, or under them, and when he tried to peek through them the trees were so dense he ended up just scratching up his hand and leaving sap on his jacket. Not yet concerned he continued to walk, pushing the stroller ahead, but the more he walked the more concern started to bubble up. The maze wasn’t all that big, it wasn’t terribly complicated. They should have never been really too far from the entrance or exit and yet he felt like they had been in the maze for hours. It was cold and he would have sworn it was getting darker. Sarah continued to sleep which was the only good thing Nate could see in this whole situation.
And then the baby shifted and let out a little sigh, a soft fussing cry before drifting back to sleep and that was all it took for the silence break. The smells came back first, he caught the whiff of smoke from the bonfire that was going near the pavilion, then there was a distant laugh and as he continued the sounds became louder and louder. As Nate stepped out of the maze everything was normal. Average. Expected. He felt a bit out of place as he walked back into the crowd but as he took a deep breath he knew he would shake the unease off, eventually. It had all been in his mind after all… right?
