We continued walking deeper into the maze.
Step after step.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
The sound of broken glass under our shoes had become the only constant in this place. Every step sent tiny shards grinding beneath our feet, the noise echoing faintly through the towering crimson mirrors around us.
I had no idea how far we had walked.
Ten minutes.
An hour.
Maybe longer.
Time felt strange here. The sky above the maze had grown darker since we entered. What once looked like a pale afternoon blue had deepened into something heavier, something closer to twilight.
Like the world itself was slowly dimming.
And the maze stretched on forever.
Every turn looked the same.
Every corridor identical.
The same red glass.
The same jagged reflections.
The same endless paths.
It felt like we weren't making progress at all.
The silence between me and Cameron only made it worse.
This place was already unnaturally quiet. No waves from the ocean anymore. No wind brushing through trees. No birds. No distant sounds of the town.
Nothing.
Just silence.
And glass.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
I glanced at Cameron as we walked beside each other.
His posture had changed.
Before, Cameron always walked with energy—shoulders loose, head up, eyes scanning everything like he was curious about the world.
Now his head stayed down.
His hands were stuffed in the pockets of his hoodie.
And the spark in his eyes was gone.
We kept walking.
We had to.
Jordan and Maya were still somewhere inside this nightmare.
Then—
A figure appeared beside me.
Red hair.
Red hoodie.
Shorts.
Slides on his feet like he had just walked out of a summer afternoon instead of a nightmare maze.
Eclipse.
"You're still here?" he said casually, matching my pace as if we were just taking a stroll through a park.
I ignored him.
I kept walking.
He shoved his hands into his hoodie pockets and sighed dramatically.
"You know…" he said. "If you just let me take over your body, this would all be a lot easier."
His voice was light.
Almost friendly.
"I could get you out of here."
For a moment…
The offer was tempting.
My legs were exhausted.
My back still ached from earlier.
And mentally… I was drained.
But I said nothing.
Eclipse clicked his tongue.
"Fine."
Then his voice darkened.
"What if Jordan and Maya are already dead?"
I stopped walking.
The anger came instantly.
"Shut up," I snapped.
Cameron turned toward me.
"Who are you talking to?"
I hesitated for a second.
"…No one," I said. "Just talking to myself."
Eclipse burst into laughter beside me.
Then he vanished.
Like he had never been there.
I tried to shake off the encounter and kept walking.
But something strange started happening.
The mirrors.
Until now, every reflection in the maze had been the same deep crimson color.
But as we passed them…
They turned blue.
A cold, glowing blue.
The shift was immediate.
Like the maze had flipped a switch.
Cameron noticed too.
He slowed slightly, staring at the mirrors.
"…Why did it do that?"
I shrugged.
"I don't know. Maybe it just wants to change color."
He looked at me flatly.
"Sure."
"The dangerous death maze just wanted a new paint job."
I opened my mouth to respond—
But then I saw something in the reflection.
A figure.
Black hair.
Small frame.
Blue clothing.
"Maya," I whispered.
Before we could react—
The mirrors moved.
Glass walls slid across the ground with a loud grinding noise.
They surrounded us in seconds, forming a massive dome of blue reflections.
Then everything went dark.
When the light returned—
We were somewhere else.
Rows and rows of wooden chairs stretched endlessly in front of us.
A massive stage stood at the far end of the room.
Heavy red curtains hung from above.
Dust floated through beams of pale light shining down from the ceiling.
Cameron looked around slowly.
"…Where are we?"
I studied the stage.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
"It looks like… a theater."
Cameron rubbed the back of his neck.
"Great."
"Because after everything today, what I really wanted was a play."
"Same," I muttered.
We started walking down the rows of chairs.
The room felt enormous.
Too enormous.
Like the space itself had been stretched unnaturally.
Eventually we reached the stage.
I hopped up first and held out a hand to Cameron.
He looked at it for a second.
Then ignored it.
"I can do it myself."
He climbed up on his own.
I lowered my hand slowly.
Maybe he was still angry.
Maybe he was scared of me after earlier.
Or maybe something inside him had simply changed.
Then—
The world shifted.
The empty theater suddenly filled with people.
Actors moved across the stage.
Stagehands carried wooden props.
Someone adjusted lighting overhead.
The room buzzed with movement and voices.
A rehearsal.
We pushed through the crowd.
No one noticed us.
It was like we were ghosts walking through someone else's memory.
Then—
Music began.
A piano.
Soft.
Gentle.
Beautiful.
The sound floated through the theater like sunlight.
For a moment, everything felt peaceful.
Then—
CLANG.
A wrong key.
A sharp voice shouted something from across the stage.
The girl playing the piano flinched.
She started again.
The music returned.
Another wrong note.
Another shout.
The rhythm continued.
Play.
Mistake.
Shout.
Play.
Mistake.
Shout.
The closer Cameron and I pushed through the crowd, the faster everything seemed to move.
People walked quicker.
Voices became louder.
The tension in the room tightened like a rope being pulled too far.
Finally, we reached the front.
Two steps away from the piano.
The girl sitting there had long black hair.
A blue dress.
Black ballet slippers.
Her fingers trembled above the keys.
Beside her stood a tall woman.
Her pale hair was tied in a tight bun.
Her clothes looked like a strict instructor's uniform.
And in her hand…
Was a thin wooden stick.
The girl began playing again.
Soft music filled the theater.
Cameron leaned closer.
"…Doesn't she look like Maya?"
My heart dropped.
I crouched beside the piano.
And saw her face.
"…That is Maya."
Before we could move—
CLACK.
The stick slammed against her shoulder.
Maya gasped.
"I—I'm sorry," she whispered.
"Again."
She started playing.
Another mistake.
CRACK.
The stick struck her again.
Cameron's eyes widened.
"What the hell—"
Before he could finish—
The world shifted again.
The stage vanished.
The theater disappeared.
Suddenly Cameron and I were standing on a floating platform high in the sky.
Below us stretched endless ground far, far beneath.
The piano was still there.
And Maya was still playing.
But now—
Every note controlled the world.
The faster she played, the stronger the wind became.
Violent gusts ripped across the platform.
Water spiraled upward from nowhere, forming twisting currents around us.
Each wrong note made the storm worse.
CLANG.
A mistake.
The wind exploded outward.
Cameron and I were thrown backward.
We slammed into the edge of the platform and barely grabbed hold.
The wind screamed around us.
"MAYA!" Cameron shouted.
"MAYA! IT'S ME!"
She didn't hear him.
CRACK.
The stick struck her again.
She kept playing.
Faster.
More desperate.
The storm intensified.
Water and wind spiraled violently around the floating platform like a raging hurricane.
Cameron pulled himself up onto the platform again.
His voice cracked as he shouted.
"MAYA! PLEASE!"
"IT'S ME!"
"CAMERON!"
For the first time…
Her fingers hesitated above the piano keys.
And the storm trembled.
