Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

What the Future Holds

My heart was pacing with adrenaline, all throughout my body, there was a rush of invigorating energy that brought me a mixture of anxiety and excitement. I felt as if some merciless creature was gnawing at the insides of my chest, as millions of confused butterflies flutterd up my throat.

The maze was before me. The maze. Already, I began to feel the aromas of the air vents in the harsh winding halls reaching me and tugging at my focus; disorientation began to dance in my mind, a perfect duet with that marvelous dancer called dizziness.

Everything seemed vague and unreal. The other three contestants who were able to stay alive to reach this final round stumbled in their composure, as they too were affected by the drifting gases.

I would win the gold; my freedom.

Suddenly, a surge of fierce determination swept through my mental state and I refused the inviting smells of fatigue. The horn soon blasted and the red, white, and blue crowd roared me on as I ran towards the metal brick-like wall which closed behind me in a final thud, enclosing me and the other contestants in utter darkness and silence.

The only light was emitted from those tiny, red dots, a reminder that more than half of the world watched on as I sought for my freedom, for gold, and for my country's pride.

I am a fugitive.

It's a long story, but to make a long story short, let me just say that I broke some laws in Iran while serving for the U.S. army in the Honor War, and I was arrested. To contest for my freedom, and under my full consent, an agreement was made between nineteen countries that any forgein law-breakers could contest for full freedom and a clear record if they competed and won gold in the Summer Olympics Ultimate Maze if they wished to do so.

Yes, the Ultimate Maze, I didnt even know what it was when I signed up for it.

So far, four contestants have died, and the other eleven have quit. Yet this sure beats months of jail time and court procedures in America; being on international television and given the chance of instant freedom. I can only blame the spirit of the Montoya family, and my irrepresible soldier character that always emerged in times of a direct challenge.

"And is deez de way dey wan us to compete?" questioned one of the other contestants, with a thick accent that I didn't fully recognize.

"Si carnal, ya no quejes y ponte a caminar!" (yes man! dont complain and start walking!), a burly, Spaniard retorted. I say burly beacause of his deep, throbbing voice that vibrated through my chest.

"Hey! We all speak english here, so lets all just try and get along! I'm here to find that gold and I dont know about you, but Im going to find it whether you like it or not! So I dont know if this getting along will--" I quickly stopped myself as I realized my own contradiction. I heard a scornful grunt from a close figure beside me.

"How many of us are there?" I asked in an attempt to mask my previous embarassment

"Ai!"

"Yo!"

"And me, now where did that Canadian go? Huh. Well, he must've gone some other way, you know what! To hell with it! I'm going, I dont know why I'm even coorperating with you guys!"

"Ai!"

"Si, si!"

And then, in a flash, I was off, blindly scanning the walls with my hands, all the while trying to focus my energy on not letting the swaying smells overwhelm my thought process.

Suddenly, I fell forward, another entrance! I heard a yell in the distance, and a large clashing sound indistinctively, follwed by a massive tumbling of what I presumed to be toppling rubble.

"I better hurry!" I thought to myself, as I scrambled back into a crouching position.

Then, a hand grabbed me, yelling in surprise, then resorting to pure questioning anger, I yanked back.

"Hey!" But the hand would not lose it's grip.

Grabbing the cold flesh that tightened harshly around my wrist, I used my two hands to try to pry it off of me. Thats when I realized it wasnt a hand. It was a robot.

The lights gave it away. Then there was a soft clicking noise inside of it, and for one brief second, I was allowed the luxury to hear the crowd outside, an enormous wave of cheers flooded my ears as the light turned from red to blue, then roared down to a gentle toss in the ocean when the light went back to red.

I guess they knew when I was listening to them. Interesting. I was abrubtly brought back to reality when I felt the cruel grip of the metal mechanism once again pull my hand towards the unkown darkness...and with a mighty punch that severely rippled shocks of pain down my back, I hit the thing and I tumbled backwards; the robot disappeared, almost whimpering into invisibility.

As I dragged on slowly, trying to get a good sense of my surroundings and fight back the dizziness danced in my head, I found that my eyes were begging to focus to the thick darkness. Up ahead I could faintly make out a small, stone table in the center of what seemed to be a large circular room that had several entrances, or exits, whichever they may be. With a sudden sense of disbelief and happiness, I ran towards the stone table, as I glimpsed the slightest refelction of gold.

Freedom.

In haste, I headed towards the circular clearing, but then, to my consternation, I heard a loud, slowly grinding noise. No! In desperation, I tried running as fast as I could towards the gold medal.

The door, the only door that led me to freedom, was closing.

Out of nowhere, I saw another figure rushing towards the stone table, the Canadian that wasn't with us in the beginning! Using every strain I had to offer, taking advantage of every sinew in every muscle that existed in my legs, I ran towards the closing gap between me and a three-month long vacation in Honolulu.

In a final desperational attempt, I lunged myself towards the opening...just some feet away...I knew it was too good to be true, to have found the medal so soon. I should have predicted the trap...with a look of fear and exhaustion, my opponent and I made eye contact; the room was fully lighted.

Then everything went blank.

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