Rona Jaffe - Mazes and Monsters

She parked in the clump of trees where they always parked when they played the game. She left her headlights on so she could see, and walked around. The night was clear and still, with a light wind rising and the moon and stars very bright. The ground was still muddy and oozy from the week of rain that had followed the spring thaw. Whoever had come here must have wanted very badly to be here.

Then she saw Daniel’s bike, hidden in the bushes. She knew it was his because he was the only one at school who had a bicycle with a sticker on it that said: NEVER HIT ANYONE SMALLER THAN YOU. Her heart lurched with fear. He had hidden his bike and gone into the caverns alone and she didn’t know why, but she knew he was in terrible danger.

Kate went back to her car and got her flashlight out of the glove compartment. She turned off the headlights so she wouldn’t run down her battery — or be caught — and walked to the caverns guided by the wavering beam of light in her hand and the moonlight.

She paused at the chain and felt as if she were choking. She couldn’t go in there alone, not in the dark, not for anyone … she was too afraid. She took another step and ducked under the chain, moving the flashlight up and down and around the now familiar black stone walls.

“Daniel!” she screamed. “Daniel!”

Silence. Maybe he wasn’t in there. She went back outside and ran around in the mud calling his name, but he never answered and she knew he was in the caverns and that she had to go in. Maybe he was hurt, or lost. He’d probably gone in to play some sort of practical joke on the rest of them, put in some scary prop for the next session, and she was sure he had his map. She didn’t have hers; why would she?

“Daniel!”

She ran into the caverns quickly, like someone terrified of water jumping in for the first time.

“Daniel!” Her voice echoed off the vaulted walls as if it were mocking her. Daniel, Daniel … Yell, Yell.

The darkness of the laundry room flashed through her mind, and she could almost hear the insane whispery breathing of that man. But there was no rapist-murderer here now, only the pitch dark that frightened her so much she felt icy cold and sweating at the same time … and the real dangers of the caverns … and Daniel. The thought of never seeing Daniel again made her start to cry. She suddenly remembered how last Christmas she had thought if you really loved someone you had to be willing to die for him, and she realized she felt that way about Daniel and always had, but she’d been afraid to admit it to herself because she thought he would leave her. I love him, Kate thought.

She walked slowly, cautiously, to the room she remembered contained their lanterns, and with a gasp of relief saw them in the corner. There was the tin box of safety matches too. Kate lit one of the lanterns. It was better than the flashlight, but she was still in the dark and still in danger. She walked through the part of the maze she remembered, more quickly now, avoiding the bottomless pool, calling out Daniel’s name until she was hoarse. Jay Jay had painted all kinds of graffiti on the walls so he wouldn’t get lost, but she had no way of deciphering it. If Daniel’s nearby he has a light with him, she thought, and I’ll see it. She had forgotten to count the lanterns, but she hadn’t seen the large battery-powered campsite lamp anywhere and she realized Daniel had taken it. Maybe the batteries had gone out … when had Jay Jay changed them?

“Daniel!” He’ll hear me, even in the dark, and see my light. Maybe he fell and he’s unconscious, or … No, she wouldn’t let herself think “dead.”

Now there were only the new uncharted places, the maze only Jay Jay knew, and parts no one knew yet at all. She suddenly realized she wasn’t afraid of the dark anymore, hadn’t been for almost five minutes, and was only afraid of what could happen to her if she took a false step. I won! she thought. I conquered the dark! She entered a small passageway and went through it to another room. Her light shone off the ghostly shapes of the stalactites and stalagmites — what were they anyway, petrified water? — and the damp cold walls. Nothing in this room, back again to another … and Kate realized she was lost.

Lost.

At first she ran in circles, frantically, like a panicked animal. Then she forced herself to stop and think. She was crying again, little gasps of grief and fear. Somewhere she could hear the sound of water dripping, and she wondered if that was the earlier room with the bottomless pool in it or another new one. At least sound would be a help. But then she realized that it didn’t matter: the caverns branched off endlessly, repeating their patterns — you could wander here forever and ever and not know the difference. But of course it wouldn’t be forever; it would only be until you were dead.

She remembered something she’d read about being able to live for a month without food, but only two days without water. Was that right? Maybe she should find a pool of water and drink from it. At least that way she wouldn’t die in agony; she’d just faint and slip away. She didn’t want to die here ! It couldn’t be possible — she had to find her way out.

And yet she knew it was quite possible. All of them had always known that.

Part of a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay went through her mind:

She thought of the education she had thrown away; the things she hadn’t done or tried to do. Now she never would. She would never know the mysteries of growing older and finding out about life. She would never write her book. She thought about Daniel, how she loved him, and wondered if he could have loved her and if they could have been together if not for tonight. Her parents would be brokenhearted to lose her, and her sister … Who would have dreamed she would be destined to die in a cave?

She kept moving on as she thought all these things, simply because she could never just lie down and wait for it to be over. Small rooms and large ones, tiny passageways … trying to find something familiar. She prayed. It was the first time since she was a little girl and had said her prayers by rote in Sunday school, but they said it was never too late.

And then she realized that when the kerosine in her lantern was gone she would be left alone in total darkness.

“Help!” she screamed. “Help, help, help, help!” The walls mocked her with their echo. Elp, elp, elp …

She would watch the level of oil in the lantern, keep walking, and find a room to die in.

She kept walking and screaming, her throat sore, shivering now in the dampness, hating the echo that reminded her how helpless she really was. She began to think she was losing her mind. The echo had changed, and now it wasn’t saying “Elp,” but “Hey.”

Hey, hey, hey …

Daniel !

Kate waved her lamp in wide arcs, shouting his name. “Daniel, it’s me, Kate! Here, I’m here!”

“Stay where you are,” he called. His voice was faint and far away, but she heard him. “Keep calling so I can find you.”

She suddenly felt warm, as if the blood was returning to her numb body. He would find her. She would live. She kept crying out hoarsely, and after what seemed a very long time she saw the reflection of his light against the black glittering wall, and then she saw the light itself. And then she saw him. No one had ever looked so wonderful to her in her life. She flung herself into his arms.

“What are you doing here?” he said.