6 CRITICAL

“I know how or I think I know”, I said confidently. We walked over to the next turn without saying a word as I tried to remember a documentary about elements. We got to the next turn but this one was different. It had three options. A right turn, a left turn and the one that meant we just keep walking. “ok, I was not expecting this”, I said. “Look for a clue on what sense we should use. As I looked around I noticed something, there was a burning torch on a stand at the side of the wall we came by. Both the left and right turn were enclosed and were dark. The straight path was not enclosed, was vague and had no plants growing on the wall Like we had seen so many on the wall behind us. “maybe the torch is for lighting our path so it’s definitely not the straight one”, Cheryl said. “yes it’s not but I don’t think it’s that’s the reason”, I said while walking over to the right turn. I took my bag and took out my note book. I tore a couple of pages and returned the book back. I put a bunch of them together lit them on fire and threw them inside the dark right turn. They fell and they still kept on burning till they smoldering.

I then walked over to the left turn, took the other rolled ball of paper lit it and threw it inside. It immediately extinguished while still in the air. “ we should take the right turn “, I said. “are you sure, why, maybe it’s just a twisted trap”, Cheryl said. “ if what is happening here is what I think is happening then trust me we’re safe”, I said. “if?”, she asked. I was not sure but I was overly confident and that meant something to me. “ok, am sure, am sure the right turn is the right turn”, I answered. She was hesitant but she still followed me. The turn was dark and a little bit dump on the wall surface like moisture. In spite of having the torch we couldn’t quite see anything. The tunnel was somehow longer despite walking faster than usual. Then after a while we heard a loud grumbling sound behind us of a door shutting and a sound like a flame exploded. Then after walking a little bit further we could literally see light at the end of the tunnel. Finally we were outside inside the maze. “sorry I doubted you, so how did you know this was the right turn?”, she asked. “well I figured I use science, the straight path had no plants growing on its walls like the others we’ve seen so I figured wind carries gas for the sustainability of plants so there was no air there and you know fire and oxygen and it with wind so yea”, I tried to explain. “that’s smart I guess, thank you though”, she said rather unconvinced but who could blame her I too didn’t know what I was talking about.

We were so caught up, we didn’t notice we were at a dead end. “I Don’t understand”, I said looking around. “but you said you were sure?”, she said loudly and angrily. “yea, you heard the left turn shut and explode, didn’t you?”, I shouted. “what I heard was A turn explode, it could have been either of them”, she said. In the middle of the blaming games the walls surrounding us started rotating loudly. Then they stopped and one of the sides opened exposing a door. The door had a writing on it, it was a riddle. “wait, what, I thought the maze was the riddle we were solving?”, Cheryl asked. “me too”, I answered. “what’s going on!?”, I shouted around hoping the lady would appear or the face or anyone at this point. Suddenly the lady from earlier appeared way up on the wall, her voice came out the door with the riddle as she said, “ hello there? You have reached a critical stage of Dormica, you have a choice, you are hungry and thirsty, you can answer the riddle in front of you within thirty minutes and get a buffet, a shower and sleep or you can choose to continue with the maze and move on to the next level, but there is downside, if you choose the riddle and are unable to solve it there will not be an advance to the next level, you’ll be trapped here until the next offer comes up if it finds you alive. The choice is yours, you have five minutes. Choose wisely.”