Corn Maze
Autumn. The best time of year on Aerius or anywhere else. The air cooled down, vibrant colors blossomed everywhere, and best of all, there were events and festivals teeming with freebies, coast to coast. As an “entrepreneur” Hexanna flipped between being flushed with cash and… fishing for coins in park fountains. If she played her cards right, she could practically live off the free food for the entire fall season. Then when the snow began to fall, she would sell all the promotional gear she had gathered and hightail it to someone’s summer vacation home they had left unattended.
Tonight’s event was the annual autumn “extrava-gourd-na” in the northern part of the forest region. They had sour squash soup, cucumber sandwiches, melon tarts, and of course pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin flavored beer. Hexanna filled her complimentary bag with extrava-gourd-na branded hats, cups, hand fans, t-shirts, and free samples. Once she had gone around to every stall, she ducked off to the side where she (attempted) to pull her hair into a ponytail. Then she stuffed her jacket into a spare tote bag and hung all her goodies into a tree. She put on a pair of square glasses to complete her transformation, then hit all the stalls again.
Around six p.m., Hexanna participated in a pie eating contest for the free pie. She came in eighth out of ten, which was better than last year. At seven, she snatched a judges badge from a distracted older gentleman, and went around sampling all kinds of free soups and desserts. After successfully swaying her fellow judges to let a ten year old win, Hexanna lurked in the judging tent until it had emptied out, so that she could fill another bag with goodies. By eight-thirty, Hexanna was full, happy, and more than a little tipsy.
She staggered towards the festival exit, a heavy bag of loose foodstuffs hanging from her arm. “Hello fair maiden!” A voice called out. Obviously, he could only be talking to her.
”What’s up?” She said.
”Care to try our haunted corn maze?”
”Naw I’m… kind of busy.” She said, continuing on.
”Entry is free and if you make it out in under five minutes, you get a prize.”
Hexanna stopped short, sloshing a bit of her pumpkin beer over her hand. “Free? Prize?”
”Yes’m. Anyone who completes the maze within the time limit wins a gift card to Crabby’s Coastal Cookies and this lil pumpkin trophy.” He pushed the bottom of one of the glittery trophies and it lit up.
”Sparkle thing.” She whispered. Then she stop, striking a pose and pointing her finger at the maze man. “Strange sir, I accept your challenge.”
”Great.” The man said, seeming as if he may be regretting his offer. “Here’s your timer. It’ll buzz back at my station when five minutes is up, so no cheating.”
”Pfft, there’ll be no need.”
”On your mark…” He said, hand on the timer. “Get set.” Hexanna knocked back the last of her drink and braced herself. “Go!”
Hexanna took off into the corn maze. She speed walked through the twisty-turning maze. “Watch it, coming through short-stack.” She said as she blasted past a mom and her small child. Hexanna ran right into a skeleton posted at the dead end. “Alright, take the left next time.” She said to herself. But when she got back to the fork, she realized there were actually three paths. So she took the closest one and tried again. But that quickly became another dead end. The maze was larger than she had first realized. She glanced down at her timer. She’d already burned forty-five seconds.
Hexanna went down the third path, which splintered off to six more paths. She was feeling confident until she ran into another dead end. She glared at the skeleton holding the “try again!” sign. “Bastard.” She said. Hexanna turned around and tried to get back onto the maim path, but now she was lost. She looked down again. Two minutes gone, three to go.
Eventually, she felt like she was on the right track again. The maze had grown eerily silent. She realized she hadn’t seen anyone since that mom and kid at the beginning. But maybe the promise of free cookies just wasn’t for everyone. Hexanna dismissed that idea immediately. Everyone loves free cookies. The only thing that made sense was that everyone else had been picked off by the dreaded corn monster and she was the only one left alive. Or they had already found the exit. Either way, she was down to two and a half minutes.
The heavy bag of goodies was slowing her down. Hexanna half ran, half limped, through the maze. As she got further into the maze, the little in-ground lights weren’t working, making everything darker and spookier. She formed a small light orb in her hand to light her way. The corn stalks cast frightening shadows on the ground. Something snapped behind her and she spun around. “I don’t have time for this.” Hexanna muttered. “I must acquire the sparkle thing.” She checked her timer once more. Thirty-seven seconds and counting.
Hexanna took off, searching frantically for the exit. A couple of times, she ran right into the corn thinking she saw a way out. (She wasn’t exactly sober, y’know.) Her eyes kept darting to the timer in her other hand. Twenty-five, then fifteen. She was never gonna make it. The cheap, plastic treasure was going to eluded her. She burned three seconds just watching the timer tick. Then she got an idea. A genius, foolproof plan.
Ten seconds later, Hexanna stumbled out of the flaming corn maze, choking on the smell of burnt corn. “What the heck happened?!” The man asked.
”Uh… I think someone dropped a cigarette.” She said.
”The maze is on fire!”
”I mean yeah, a little bit.” Hexanna clicked her tongue. “But I made it! So uh… about that prize.”
Other festival workers ran over. “What happened to the maze?” They asked.
”Those damn irresponsible kids. Gettin’ high or who knows.” Hexanna shook her head, too tired to lie with her normal gusto.
”Someone call the fire department.”
”I’m just gonna take these…” Hexanna slipped behind the distracted crowd and claimed her prizes. And since she was already there, she took an extra handful of gift cards as compensation for the unexpected difficulty of the maze and those rude skeletons. Then she started tiptoeing away, back to the tree where she had stashed her other goodies. She cast one last look at the still smoldering corn maze. Hexanna bit her lip, feeling a small pang of guilt. Who knew an acre of dry, brittle corn stalks would be so flammable? But then she remembered that there was a Crabby’s Coastal Cookies location in this town and she felt a whole lot better. She skipped out of the fair, rapidly clicking the button on her new light up pumpkin.