The Butterfly Masque [ONC 2024]

Away from the Lights

She blinked, once, twice. But her strange surroundings remained the same. The shadows around her loomed darker than they should. That's how she knew she'd wandered away from the Carnival. The horizon should be much brighter.

Still, the maze had gone on for quite a bit. Maybe the attraction stretched into one of the nearby parks?

Rushing back to the wall, Jenna pushed against it. When the wall wouldn't budge, she felt around the stones. Perhaps a special pressure point would trigger the opening mechanism.

"Why did they build it so far out?" she wondered. "Is there a special prize for the people who find the secret door?"

Perhaps she should have asked more questions to the CCTV operator before walking through. Still, maybe they could hear her from the other side if she banged loud enough.

"Hey!" she knocked against the wall, "Carnival person! Or whoever's in there, can you open it back up? Please! I won't make it back to my bus in time! Hey!"

The cool evening breezes whistled lonesomely around her. She called again, beating both fists against the wall. Her hands were left red and nearly bruised.

"Way to go, Jenna," she sighed, "Ugh, Mads is gonna kill me if I have to ask Ty for a ride home.

Madison would not kill her, of course, but Jenna had never accepted Madison's offers to drive her home. Tonight was a very inconvenient night--for Madison--to demand charity.

Jenna set again to feeling around each of the stones. The mortar flaked away beneath her fingernails, but not enough to indicate a hidden latch.

Maybe Dad could cashapp her money to get an Uber? The muffled voice of Dianna replayed in her head. Nope, she was not going near that at all.

Her nails finally found a thin gap in the wall, one that felt meant to be there. 

"Oh, thank God," she groaned. 

Now if she could just find the trigger latch. Her nails couldn't quite reach. 

In her struggles, she heard a rustling. Faint and soft, right behind her. She looked back quickly, pressing closer to the wall for safety. 

All she saw where the structures of a seemingly abandoned garden. The fountain and hedges she knew already. But on the farthest edge, she noticed a break in the hedgerow and a curved railing bend down out of sight. Perhaps the railing belonged to a set of stairs leading deeper into the gardens. Or whatever these odds places were. She couldn't remember her quaint community college owning gardens, but then again, she didn't spend much time on campus proper.

"Ugh, focus, Jenna! Get out and get home. Somehow."

She scanned the area nearest her for a twig or stone she could use to jam the trigger. As her gaze fell to the ground, a flash of white caught her eye. The familiar cardface stared up at her from a few paces away. 

Jenna's brows knit together. Why was the Ace there? Had she dropped it? She couldn't remember dropping it. She barely remembered picking the old thing up at all. And honestly, any other day, she might leave it there for a more invested person to find and keep.

Yet perhaps if could fit through the crack? If it were stiff enough?

She reached for the card. Without warning, a long dark snake rushed out from beneath the hedges. Jenna snatched her hand back seconds before the winding black body dashed over the card. Jenna jumped back, screaming.  

But the fear the snake might attack again spurred her forward. She could hear the rustling in the hedges as she pulled herself to her feet. Rushing forward, she hurried down a short stairwell, clutching the wide railway to keep her balance.