My elbow grazed the stone wall which felt cool and damp against my skin. The headlamp cast a dim light over the man ahead of me-Markus. Our hurried footsteps echoed through the passage as we made multiple turns-left, right, left, left, right, forward, right.

“Markus, do you know where we’re going? Are you sure whatever that thing was didn’t follow us in here?”I spoke in a hushed tone.

Markus did nothing but nod a short response to my questions which made my stomach feel more uneasy. I tried to ignore how loud my breathing must of sounded in quiet darkness. Around us, shadows seemed to dance and taunt us as we traveled farther from the surface. I tried to stare ahead at the figure in front of me, his steps seeming to grow fast and inpatient. I wanted to shout at Markus for placing us in this position, to blame him for proding where he shouldn’t of, but I know I would be lying if I said I didn’t push him too. The only thing we could do was go deeper underground while whatever that monster was blocked our only exit to the surface.

For a moment, Markus stood dead in his tracks ahead of me and I gave him a questioning glance.

“What’s happening?”My voice quiver with uncertainty.

The agonizing sound of stone grinding against stone pierced my eardrums as the passage widened to reveal a cavernous opening. When I took my hands off of my ears, Markus already entered the opening, simply waving a hand, gesturing me to come closer.

I hurried into the opening but just as I did, I heard the sound of the wall behind me seal away.

“What’s going on…Markus…”I trembled, my voice dying in my throat.

“Welcome to my home,” A low, deep voice spoke.

When I whipped my head around, I stared directly into the face of Markus, grinning from ear to ear, his smile cartoonishly wide with his eyeballs ready to pop out of their sockets. I could feel his warm breath and see drool pooling out from his yellowed teeth. I screamed and flug myself into the wall, filled with utter terror as the figure stood over my fragile vulnerable body.

“Enter the maze or die” He spoke through Markus’s body, his jaw opening and closing trying to imitate the act of talking. He chuckled darkly before Markus’s dead body collapsed to the floor and the entire cavernous room shifted to reveal towering slabs of stone incasing me within a maze.

I let out a strangled cry as I saw Markus’s body, his limbs were contorted like a marionette and the smile still etched across his face. His eyes were rolled into the back of his head and my eyes streamed with tears.

“Tick tock,” A low booming voice echoed through the chamber and reluctantly I averted my eyes away towards the looming maze ahead of me.

I didn’t know what else to do but to keep moving out of utter panic and my heart thumping in my ears. Right, left, center, left, right, right, left, center, wait turn around, left. The further I walked I began to hear distant strangled cries and screams but it was difficult to make out what they were saying. My heart dropped in my chest and my breathing quicken as I increased my pace, part of me wanting to help whoever I was hearing. As I traversed further inside, all I could hear were bloody screams and moaning growing louder in pitch and voulume. More and more people wailing and suffering in a symphony of pain. I didn’t know how long or how far I had been walking, it could of been hours or a day or three days, my legs ached and no matter how far I seemed to go this maze was endless. All I could see were walls of gray and shatter at hearing the sounds of others like me. How many others had fallen into this trap like I had? Eventually, I too joined the symphony.

“Such a beautiful voice,”His words echoed across the walls with laughter.