Page 48 of Death Match

Back to the present. Back to the maze.

I sighed heavily as everything I had just witnessed continued to sink in. I had thought the poorer, shady part of town I’d live in and the bruises all over my arms were bad enough. Now I was a stripper and being sought out by a local gang’s kingpin?

So much for my innocent daydreams of a peaceful life as a school teacher or three-time kickboxing champion.

Disappointment began to rear its ugly head, darkening any hopes I’d had for the time before my death. I’d spent so long imagining, concocting, fake lives that I could have led, only to be smacked in the face with the truth like this. One I hadn’t expected for myself at all.

I wasn’t sure how to process it.

And I don’t know why, but the more I seemed to learn about my life, the lonelier I felt. Sure, I had Ricky. Sure, I had this mysterious sister I still hadn’t met but cared so much about that I was willing to do things that didn’t align with my moral compass for her. But this life wasn’t what I had wanted for myself. At all.

“Jade?” It was Michael talking down from his place on his invisible cheering section this time.

I tilted my chin up and frowned. “I’m here.”

“Did you experience another part of your last living memory?” he asked.

Boy, had I.

I nodded but then remembered he couldn’t see me. Quickly recovering, I added, “Yes, I did.”

He must have heard the sorrow in my tone because he followed up with, “Are you all right, Jade? You’re in the maze’s center, so you can take a minute if you need it.”

I closed my eyes for a long moment and let my shoulders fall. They felt as heavy as they did when the church’s ceiling had fallen on them.

I wish Eli was here.

And I meant here-here. Not watching somewhere behind the glass.

The thought surprised me at first, but the more I considered it, the more I could see why I wanted him near. I wanted to spill my guts to someone, tell them all I’d seen and how it was sitting inside. Like a boulder. Like I couldn’t breathe without feeling like I was being stabbed.

“Eli?” I called skyward. But when only the caw of birds answered, my gaze searched the clouds above. “Uh…Eli? You up there?”

“He’s gone off for a moment,” Michael replied. “He should return soon.”

Oh great. When I wanted to hear his voice, he was nowhere to be found. Of course, he could leave whenever he wanted, but I was stuck in the death maze for God knew how long.

I tried to shove my annoyance back down. I didn’t want to be annoyed with him, especially since he really didn’t do anything wrong, but I just didn’t understand why he left when I was literally fighting for my life. What could possibly be more important than being here for me? He knew how high my anxiety was with these Trials, with all the pressure I felt. I needed him.

And he wasn’t here.

I rubbed my hands on my jeans, suddenly uncomfortable. How many more of these Trials did I even have?

Looked like I had to move on and find the next arch.

Without saying anything more to Michael, I strode toward the new opening in the maze—directly in front of me this time—and entered the labyrinth for the third time. I wished I had been able to speak to Eli before he left—where did he possibly have to go anyway?—but there was nothing I could do about that now.

Immediately I was faced with a three-way split. Left, right, or straight. I should have known it was only going to continue to get harder.

Any other time I had been faced with a fork in the road, I would count of my instincts to tell me the way or on the maze itself. So, I waited for either one to take the lead again.

After a moment, I heard more rocks shifting on both sides of me. That meant I was going forward. Running my hand along the slick and mossy surface of the stone as I walked, I continued on. And on. And on. This pathway seemed to stretch forever.

It wasn’t until my finger ran over a familiar crevasse in the rock that I paused.

Wait a minute. Had I passed this before?

I examined the walls on either side of me. Smooth gray stone covered in green fuzzy moss, just like the rest of it. But since the walls were so flat, I remember thinking it strange to feel that random divot there before.

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