It didn't start out with a mission to be spooky. My friends and I were just going to go through the corn maze...at sunset...the night before Halloween...without flashlights. What can I say? We were in high school and dumb.
At first, we were goofing around and scaring each other by jumping out of the corn and yelling or tickling someone else's neck with a piece of dried corn husk. A few people would run ahead and hide, then reach out and grab someone as the group came by. We were all screaming and laughing and having a good time.
Then we heard a noise. It was like a tractor engine, but louder and deeper. The ground rumbled beneath our feet. Not too frightening, except that the farm owners had told us that everyone stopped working at dusk, right as we had entered the maze. No one should be out on a tractor; we were the last group to go through the maze, thanks to the farmer being Jack's uncle.
We all looked at each other; no one was screaming now. Almost as one unit, we squished onto the path together and continued to follow the maze. No one admitted to anything, but we were all freaked out and wanted to leave the corn maze as soon as we could.
After a few twists and turns through the maze, we started to get concerned. Hadn't we been here before? we were all wondering. I mean, it is a maze, but we were teenagers. Surely we could figure this little maze out, right?
"LOOK!" Christy yelled. A mitten lay on the ground in front of us, looking especially purple under the glow of the flashlight..looking especially like my mitten. I checked my pockets.
"It's mine!" I confirmed loudly, confidently. I wanted to sound brave, but then I realized that a lost-turned-found mitten realized that we had no idea how to get out of the maze. A wave of fear washed over the group. And then we heard that same noise again.
Matt took charge. "Alright, everyone, it's a simple maze. We can do this. Everybody hold hands with someone else. We're going to go through this together. Put flashlights every few people and shine them in all directions. That way the front of the group can see the back of the group and we won't take any wrong turns, alright? And no smart alecks, ok? Let's get out of here and save the scary stuff for later."
We mumbled our agreement and arranged ourselves in the directed order. I held hands with my best friend Joy and her brother Dale, who carried a flashlight. Feeling like small children instead of cool teenagers, we made our way through the corn maze.
Matt must have been an experienced hiker, because he led us out of the maze with only a couple dead end turns. Relief flooded through my body as I exited the maze. The farmer's house lights shone on us, and we made our way to our cars.
Afterwards, Jack told us that his uncle told him that the noise was a sound effect for the maze, and it was attached to motion sensors, one of which would go off even without a motion. That explained the noise. In the daylight, the maze is simple and fun. But my friends and I try to avoid corn mazes at night. We know how spooky they can be in the dark.
**linking up with Victoria!**
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