The Forgotten Maze

"Do you Dare Enter the Maze?"

I gasped as I woke up from a little nap I had taken in the small plastic chair, feeling a little disoriented. What was that about a Maze? Where was I? Oh yeah. I was in at the laundromat, and it was Thursday.

Thursday: That was our thing, my mother and I. It was a Thursday at the laundromat with its bulky, industrial washers and rows of dingy dryers that lined the walls.

Dust and grime lined the walls of the single restroom in the back of the place, and a dilapidated vending machine stood discarded the window.

When we arrived, we got the laundry out of the old 71 Impala and sat it down on one of the tables near the washers. I didn't see anyone else in the building, but I saw one of the regular washers rocking back and forth, with a tiny pool of water just underneath it.

I sighed as Mom and I filled the big, silver loader with our laundry and started it up as usual.

We both sat down in the hard, plastic seats and got our books out for a quiet read when I noticed something different about the place.

On the other side of the discarded vending machine, there was this old 1980s style arcade game, looking fresh and new as if it had just been shipped from the manufacturer.

I walked over to it as if in a trance.taking in its delightful lights gleaming and flashing in red, yellow, and blue. The playful synthsounds seemed to pull me forward, filling my imagination with the intoxicating call of adventure as I found my hands resting on the single joystick.

I glanced at the title on the top. It was called Merlin's Forgotten Maze and the crawl on the scree read; Do you dare to enter?

"Cool!", I said softly, savoring the nostalgia of the moment. It seemed to beckon to me like some long lost piece of a childhood memory from a chest in a dusty old attic.

Behind me, the washing machine started banging louder and louder, walking forward and spilling soap and water on the floor. On my left, the door to the restroom opened at random, then closed shut with a bang.

"Do You Dare Enter The Maze?", the game said in a low, gutteral voice that seemed mechanical and evil, so loud that it echoed in my ribcage. I turned back and stared at the game watching the preview. It looked like a version of an old Atari adventure game with 16-bit graphics, yet it was oddly compelling.

Just as I was about to put a quarter in, one of the dryers stopped, and the door swung open all on its own, spilling clean clothes all over the dirty floor. Mom looked up from her book and hobbled over to it.

"No, Mom. You stay there. I'll have a look."

Mom stared blankly at me for a moment, giving me a look, and then she sat down again.

When I turned the corner to where the dryers were, there was ....nothing. The doors were all closed, and none of them had any clothing in them. I checked on my mom and found her in the chair, reading.

"Everything okay?" , she asked me, giving me a concerned look.

"Oh, ummm.. yeah. I just thought i heard one of the dryers stop."

She glanced in the direction of the dryers

"None of the dryers are running.", she said thoughtfully, standing up again. She hobbled over to the far wall to have a look herself. "None of them have any clothing in them."

She turned back to face me again. "Are you sure you're okay? You're as jumpy as a kid in a haunted house."

It was then that I started to notice that my heart was beating faster than usual, and my breathing was shallow.

"Maybe I need to just walk around a little." I said nervously. I had no idea that i was so jittery until she said something.

I took a deep breath and let it come out like a water flowing down rocky stream.

"See? I'm fine, Mom!", I said giving her a reassuring smile

"Do you dare enter the Maze?", boomed out of the old coin-op game, and I jumped out of my skin and walked to the game again..except it wasn't there.

"What the..." I scratched my head, closed my eyes , and opened them again. The game was still gone.

Mom looked at me again. "Hey, are you sure you're okay?"

I didn't want to worry her so I made an excuse. "Oh, yeah.. I'm fine. I just felt like walking, that's all."

Her brow furrowed a little, but her face soon cleared, while I made a show of my leisurely pace around the laundromat. As I passed by one of the smaller washers, I glanced at one of them that happened to be open and I saw a quarter at the bottom, just begging to be picked up and placed into that arcade machine.

I just grinned , not believing my good fortune as I reached into the washer to grasp the shining prize and fell inside it, sliding down, down down...hearing the dark voice say, "Welcome to Merlin's Maze Run!"

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!" , I screamed out. I tried to mouth the word "help" but to no avail as my body slid through the long, dark and twisting tunnel.

Finally, I landed softly in a pile of wet laundry that was the size of a landfill. I tumbled down this cold, wet heap, wondering if this was where the legendary sock monster lived.

At long last, I stopped tumbling, and I was able to stand up and survey my surroundings. I gasped as I looked around, seeing pile after pile of wet laundry with only some vague paths in the distance with walls that were lined with old underwear and discarded socks.

"Oh my god," I said, realizing what this was, and I heard the mechanical laughter of the game that seemed to come from everywhere. My breath caught in my throat hearing that laughter.

I started walking cautiously along room, wondering which path might lead to an exit and which would lead me further into this snare. Just as I was thinking about this, the booming voice came again.

"10"

"9"

"8"

A countdown. A countdown to what?

The room began to rumble and I looked behind me and saw the pile of laundry start to fall apart, and roll towards me. I booked it to the closest tunnel and barely escaped when the pile collapsed with loud, wet thud, splashing water towards me in a cold mixture of diluted detergent and fabric softener.

I wiped my face and looked around quickly, and noticed that all of the other tunnels were blocked, so I walked further forward into this one. Sock and old t-shirts littered the walls in a strange mosaic, some of the drooping like worn-out wallpaper in old apartment.

I sighed and continued walking as the path twisted to the right and then slightly upward.

"Kenny? Where are you?"

I couldn't believe my ears.

"Mom?!", I called out, hoping she could hear me in this muffled tunnel.

"Mom, if you can hear me, I'm in the game!"

I paused, waiting for an answer. Mom was definitely a skeptic and definitely did not go for fantastical notions or video games. Yet somehow, she seemed to hear me.

"Kenny, quit playing tricks! Come out, now!"

This was going to be hard, but I had to try.

"Look, Mom, I know it's hard to believe. I barely believe it myself, but it's true. If you look at the game in the laundromat, you will see me inside. I'll jump up and down for you!"

I jumped up and down inside the tunnel for a few moments and waited.

"Can you see me now?", I shouted.

"Well!?!"

"Well,.what?

I heard her sigh for a moment, then in exasperation, she said, "Okay, fine! You're in a game! Now, how about coming out and helping with the laundry?"

"Ummmmm, this Maze is basically MADE from laundry! I smell like fabric softener right now!."

"Well, that's clean, at least! So how do you get out?"

"Good question!" I retorted. "I have to find the exit to get out. You have a good view from where you are. Maybe you can guide me with the joystick."

"You know I've never used one of these.."

"Well, Mom, it's just us here, so....."

"So, it's us or nothing. Got it. Okay, here we go!"

I took a deep breath, and as I did, a trail of arrows made of light appeared in front of me, showing me the way.

"Yes!"I shouted and started on the pathway to the left.

"I used to be good at mazes when I was a girl. They wound hand those out every Friday afternoon. I could usually find my way around to them."

I grinned. "Way to go, Mom!"

"Of course, this one has some additional challenges ..."

"Like?"

"Like 4 or 5 figures headed in your direction. Their all in walking in unison, so they might be military or...."

"Or robotic " , I completed

As I ascended the path upward in this sock filled tunnel, I heard the sounds. It was a wet, thumping rhythmic sound, and it was coming closer.

"Uh oh."

I looked back and I saw them. I couldn't believe my eyes. These...things were humanoid in that they appeared two arms, two legs, a torso, and a head, but they were made entirely from wet tube socks. I watched them in horror as they ascended.

"Hey! Get a move on! You lookin for an engraved invitation?"

Mom was right, and I booked it to the next pathway and saw arrows to the right and hoped that the 'sock soldiers' couldn't see the arrows.

Suddenly, I heard the metallic voice utter "Spin Cycle"

"Oh no!"

"It's just below you!", Mom said. "I see it. From what I can tell, if you take one of.the wrong paths, the spin cycle does exactly that and then, you are flung to another part of the Maze, probably somewhere further away from the exit."

"Oh, wonderful." I commented dryly.

"Judging from what I am seeing, this Maze was copied from an M.C. Escher painting. "

"Oooooh. The news just keeps getting better. Once I get out, I will see about studying more art history. "

"Well, that's certainly an interesting topic. As far as news goes, I have some good news."

"Would it be that I am close to the exit? I hear those sock soldiers coming from behind me."

"Got it!", she exclaimed. "Follow the arrows and your home free, son!"

I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw a metal door in front of me, and I opened it and crawled through.

The next instant, I found myself crawling out of a washing machine, coughing and sneezing. Mom came to my side and helped me out.

"You okay?".she asked me.

I took a deep breath and nodded my head.

"Well, it's seems a bit odd to tell this to someone who is soaking wet, but the dryer is done."

I took a sideways glance and scoffed as we walked over to the laundry table, shoes squishing all the way and started folding laundry.

A few minutes later, an emaciated looking man came into the laundromat looking out of breath, his thinning gray hair soaked in sweat. He pulled out a gun from his pants.

He looked at us, and his eyes grew wide.

"Ya'll didn't see me! Got it!?"

Speechless, we both nodded our heads.

He ran around the laundromat, looking from side to side as if he were trying to find a place to hide. He took a glance at an open machine, and suddenly, he was sucked into the machine.

Mom and I looked at each other, gathered our laundry, and left the laundromat. As we got to the exit, we heard the booming, mechanical voice one more time.

"Do you Dare Enter the Maze!"