Blinding light blazed out and forced the brown eyes to shut due to its piercing force. Autumn covered her eyes with her hands from the light and squinted. A click sounded from behind her as the light in front of her slowly dimmed down. Once she got her vision back, Autumn found herself in the bedroom she had claimed as hers in the mansion. Perplexed, she looked around and found the room in the same condition it was when she had last seen it.

Streaks of moonlight penetrated through the glass window and illuminated the room. With a beat of reluctance, Autumn moved over to the wardrobe and tried opening it, only to find no door there. There was only texture and design of the door, but not one in real life. That moment Autumn knew that the room was part of the maze.

As her hands explored the walls for any sort of indentation to give away a door, the room grew darker. Outside, the moon started to hide away behind the thick veil of the clouds and the wind turned harsh. Frustrated, Autumn sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her face with her hands. She ran a hand through her hair and gripped the roots tightly.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door. With a start, Autumn's head snapped up and her gaze moved to the door of the room. Her heart raced as adrenaline pumped through her veins. She held her breath for a moment of silence, when another sudden bang came. Autumn jumped and her face paled as she realised that the sound had come from the wardrobe. In another instant, the wardrobe rocked back and forth slowly.

Swallowing hard, Autumn stood up on her trembling legs and walked over to the wardrobe. Her hands shook as she raised them up to the handle of the door. For a second, Autumn believed that the door wouldn't open as it hadn't before, but she was proved wrong.

The only sound in the room was the creaking of the door as it opened. The inside was dark and only the outline of some hung up clothes could be seen. Slowly, the frightened girl pushed some coats aside to look at the back of the wardrobe. Due to the utter darkness inside, she couldn't see anything. She took the torch from her bag and raised it to the back. The moment the light was brought to life, there was a loud bang. Autumn screamed and dropped the torch while staggering back. Her heart pounded so hard in her chest as if it would jump out at any given moment. Cautiously, she bent down to grab her torch and then turned it on again. She raised it to the opening in the door and to her surprise, there was nothing and no one inside.

Anxiously, she searched inside again and again, until she was looking frantically. She couldn't take it anymore. Something had to be done. As Autumn was looking through the closet one last time, another knock came, and this time she noticed that it was coming from behind the piece of furniture.

With her heart in her throat, Autumn moved to the side of the wardrobe and started dragging it forward. The foot of the closet left a dust free trail as it moved ahead. Once done, she hesitated before moving to the back and her eyes and mouth went wide.

There was a gaping hole in the wall. The wall was roughly broken down with sharp edges of bricks jutting out. The hole was big enough to enable a person to walk through while bending slightly. Autumn stopped at the entrance and realised that the hole led to the locked room beside hers. It also happened to be the same room she had woken up in with a candle waiting for her.

With her nerves on alert, Autumn put foot after foot in the room until she was entirely inside. A low screeching sound came from behind her and she turned around just in time to see the wardrobe moving back in its place. A loud crashing sound resounded and a small cloud of dust blew in the face of the only occupant of the room. Autumn rushed to the now closed entrance and tried to push the closet, but it did not budge. All her efforts were futile.

Taking a deep breath, she started examining the room. With every passing second, Autumn's nerves heightened and more gloomy darkness crept around her. As she was looking through the same closet that had shown her some visuals before, something in the environment shifted. Unbeknownst to Autumn, a blemished figure moved with the stealthiness of an assassin towards her from behind. Autumn's hands moved about the inside of the closet with her torch tucked under her chin. She pushed at the walls of the wardrobe, oblivious to the hand that was now a couple of inches away from her.

In a wink of a second, the torch died down causing Autumn to frown. She took it in her hand and tapped it hard against her other hand, but it didn't work. She heaved a tired sigh and looked up. As she moved her gaze around, she came back to her senses and noticed a familiar void inside her chest. Quick as a flash, she whirled around and came face to face to nothing. Confused, she slapped her torch once more- resulting in it to come to life- and moved it around the room.

She found nothing.

A drop of sweat glided down the back of her neck and she fanned herself before moving over to the window- hoping that it would open. She felt cold inside but hot outside. When she faced the window, she was shocked to see it broken. She was certain that the window had been fine before.

A chill ran down her spine and she gulped. Slowly, she reached it and then opened it up. The window creaked and groaned and resisted against complying the commands of the demanding hands, before finally giving in.

Breathing in fresh air, Autumn peered her head out and looked down. Her brows furrowed as her gaze met a sheet tied just under the window. She looked further down to see a couple of sheets tied together to form a rope which ended just above the ground. Taking her torch, she turned it on and pointed it in the direction of the woods around the mansion. Squinting hard, she watched with concentration in the forest. The naked trees ended up being a thing of advantage for her as she could see clearly in the night, but in spite of this, she found no one who could have left a way down for her.

The dried leaves danced around and the air gave soft whistles as Autumn climbed down from the window using the sheets. Her limbs clung to the makeshift rope and she continued a slow descent. When she was more than half way through, Autumn let out a weary groan. She hunched her shoulders and then contemplated dropping her backpack on the ground beneath. Surely, its weight was a burden to her.

As much relieving that would be, she decided against it.

She had climbed just a bit more downward, when suddenly the protrusion to which the sheets were tied, came slightly loose from the brick wall. Autumn screamed and held on to the sheets for her dear life as the rope moved a couple of inches down to the ground. A small nail that was jutting out of the wall, scraped Autumn's arm, causing the skin to tear open and bleed. Autumn hissed and winced at the impact. Without thinking twice, Autumn let go of one of her hands from the sheet and then took off her bag before letting it drop to the ground beneath. She then started to move towards the ground more slowly and more carefully.

She had not even moved a yard, when the jutting in the wall came completely loose. A piercing scream reverberated around the area as Autumn came falling down to the ground with the sheets bundling up at her feet. All the air left Autumn's lungs on the collision while endless pain shot through her body. Tears brimmed her eyes as she inhaled a gulp of air and laid on the muddy surface, groaning and grunting.

A quarter of an hour passed before Autumn moved up to sit. Cries of agony and anguish were released from her mouth as she moved. With her face contorted in pain, she reached for her bag and dragged it towards herself. She rummaged through it and took out a small first aid kit from inside. First she mended the tear in her arm and then attended the small cuts and scratches that were visible. She knew that several parts of her body would be bruised along with her back but she couldn't do anything about it.

After some more time with a lot of struggle, Autumn had managed to stand up from the ground and walk around without a limp. With her bag on her shoulders, she stood at the entrance of the forest, trying to look beyond all that was visible. She didn't know where to go from there. There was no closed space around her as she was standing in the open and there was no other door to open. Had all of this occurred only for her to be outside without the last of her friend? She didn't know, but the question was answered a while later.

Far away in the woods, a small, but visible dot of light floated in the air among some dried bushes. Autumn narrowed her eyes at it before slowly walking in its direction without a second thought. As she got closer to it, she made it out to be a blue ball of flame glowing in the air. When Autumn was a couple of yards away from it, it started moving further away from her, illuminating the path around it. Without a question, Autumn followed it into the heart of the forest.

Hours passed by and the slow trek continued until the ball of fire stopped in the middle of a clearing. Autumn's steps also faltered. After a breath of moment, she made her way to the floating dot of light, but it quickly went out in a snap. Autumn blinked and looked around herself. By now, her legs were trembling with fatigue from the long walk.

A cool gush of wind sent a shiver down Autumn's spine as the night took a chilly turn. Autumn reached in her bag and took out a shawl before wrapping it around her shivering frame. After having an inner battle with herself, she decided to continue walking in the opposite direction of the mansion and ahead.

The dark, night sky changed its shade into several hues of dawn as the moon bid goodbye and allowed the sun to do its wonders. Not long had passed, when Autumn saw another clearing in a distance. With a happy smile, Autumn sprinted towards it.

The second she was free from the grasp of the trees around her, she came to a halt and looked in front of her. The smile fell from her face when she came to face an old cabin at the end of the clearing. The wooden cabin looked as if it would fall to ruins any moment now. The windows were broken and wood was eaten in places by termites. There were several holes in the walls of the cabin and it had the odour of mould.

Autumn did not want to get any closer to the house, but knew that she had to if she had been led to it. At this point, she was willing to do anything it would take for her friends to come back in one piece.

Suddenly her feet felt as heavy as a big stone as she could not move due to the fear of what she would be facing. She forced her feet to move to the door of the cabin and stood in silence in front of it for a minute.

Only to delay her future actions, she knocked on the door, knowing completely well that she would not get an answer. Maybe then she would be able to reason with herself that there is no one inside and she should not be trespassing and would turn back.

Scolding herself for the stupid thoughts, Autumn went ahead to open the door, when it swung open by the person on the other side.

*****

Hey, Clumsies!

How was this one?

The hole?

The room?

Outside?

The ball of flame?

The cabin?

The person?

Anything else?

Don't forget to vote, comment and follow! If you want, that is.

Love you. ❤