Day 9 - Hedged In Finale

Hey guys! Grace Nask here with day 9 of the April Challenge. Today we have the eighth a final chapter of Hedged In. If you're just coming in, Olivia, our main character, enters the perilous Maze with her partner Jacob. After facing traps of all sorts, Jacob's hit with a poisoned arrow, forcing Olivia to forfeit. So let's get to it.

In memory of my grandfather Richard.

Chapter Eight: Ray

Listening to the hum of the heart monitor, one look at Jacob’s face told me that I’d made the right decision.

A helicopter arrived within fifteen minutes of the flare, carrying a pilot, med crew, and the proctor. Evan explained the situation for me, so I didn’t have to write it into the sand. He even convinced Logan to help load Jacob onto a stretcher. From there, the helicopter flew us to the nearest hospital. Along the way, the proctor informed me that of the seventy one partners competing Jacob and I placed thirty ninth. About halfway. For our age, I should have been proud, but I was too concerned about Jacob to worry about it. Funny how that works.

Now Jacob would be ok. Heart rate machines confirmed his state in the land of the living, and an oxygen concentrator ensured him staying there. They had to take out and pump in some blood to get the poison out of his system, but overall he was going to be ok. He was going to be ok.

After ensuring he would survive, I grabbed a piece of paper, hailed down a nurse, and wrote down Kayla’s phone number. They called her, and, after explaining the situation, Kayla took the first train out.

She arrived two days later. I ran into her arms the second she walked into the door. Kayla stroked my hair as I sobbed into her ear. In that moment, it all became too much. The Maze, the bees, the dog, the poisoned arrows--too much for a seventeen-year-old. But I’d done it. We both had.

I settled Kayla down next to Jacob’s bedside. She brought one of my journals with her, and I spent the better portion of two hours telling her about The Maze.

I shot the flare, and a helicopter picked us up. Evan helped us out. He’s kind of grown on me. Logan helped too, but he didn’t like it. We flew to this hospital, and we’ve been here ever since. Jacob hasn’t woken up yet, but I think he’ll be alright.

Kayla mulled the words over, then pulled my head onto her shoulders. I let her, my sister and mother all in one. “I know this wasn’t how you wanted this to end, but I want you to know that I’m incredibly proud of you,” she whispered.

I nodded, feeling the tears well up again.

“So...did you find your peace?” Kayla asked, shifting me over to look me in the eye.

I considered the question, then had to grab my journal again. Had I found closure?

I’m not sure. Maybe with time I’ll know, but right now I don’t. I don’t know who killed Mom and Dad, and I don’t know why. I don’t know any more than when this first began. But at the same time...I think I do. About myself, and the world, and my voice. And maybe that’s all I need to find peace.

Kayla nodded as a weary, infectious smile shone on her face. “Maybe,” she agreed.

The void curdled before me, a rolling mass of blues and purples. The strong, vibrant purples made me smile, though I couldn’t say why; weren’t the blues just as pretty in this place? Maybe not. Maybe the purples were just more my style.

I looked around. Nothing in the east; nothing in the west; nothing to the north; and to the--hey wait a minute! Bumbling through, I’d almost skipped right past her. But there was something to the north, or, more accurately, someone coming toward me.

A younger girl that stood half a head shorter than me approached. She looked to be about fourteen. And on her clothes...was blood. It dripped from her pants down to her shoes, and her arms were bathed in it up to the elbows, like she’d held the victim of a murder. It wasn’t hers; by some instinct, I knew that right away. It was...her parents’. No, my parents’ blood. Because that little girl was me.

With a small smile, she beckoned to me with a blood-soaked hand. The wind swirled around me, echoing her pleas. Wanting me, begging me, to leap into the void. For her.

But I wasn’t that little girl anymore, and I didn’t follow her whims. I smiled at her, the warm, tender smile a mother looks onto her child with. But I gently shook my head, pivoted, and, without looking back, walked away.