The Periods of Being

Chapter XII

Chapter XII

     "Olive!" A male voice echos in her dreams. Olive stirs slightly but keeps her eyes closed. She listens to the birds chirping and to the breeze of the wind. She is at peace. She curls up more to keep herself warm as she drifts back in her slumber to be more disturbed by more yells coming from the distance.

     "Did anyone check the maze?" A female voice echos alongside the male's. Olive groans as she becomes more aware of the pain at her side and the feeling of grime on every inch of exposed skin. She keeps her eyes closed, still unaware of her surroundings.

     "The maze? Why the maze?" The male voice cries back. The voices as getting closer and all she can focus on is falling back to sleep. She isn't sure what she had dreamt about last night, but if she didn't have a dream, it was better than having one. The desire to have that dreamless sleep once more rises in her lungs and up to her heavy eyes when she hears the voices coming nearer. And then footsteps. She is paralyzed to the floor as she listens. She can't move. All she can do is try to fall back to sleep to avoid the footsteps and the nearing voices that are becoming familiar.

     "No! This way!" She hears the woman's voice shout to the man. She holds her eyes closed despite them crying to open and stand up. Her legs twitch to run from the on-coming company. She can run now and sneak back into her room—

     Wait, where am I?

     She opens her eyes suddenly and props herself up to find herself still in the center of the maze and not in her room like she imagined herself to be. The scenes from last night flood in and she holds her pounding head in her hand as she sits up and pulls her knees to her chest in regret. The sleepy butler must've been woken up this morning with confusion as to why he was there. She imagines he was worried with fright to what may have happened to her. She rubs her eyes at the thought and yawns.

     "Mr. Delacery! She is this way!" She hears the familiar yell of Freya only a small distance away, revealing the male voice to be Mr. Delacery, the butler she tricked. She stands up with the help of the statue's podium as she hears the footsteps of the company coming closer and then Freya's gasp.

     "Olive!"

     Olive turns to one of the many entrances to find Freya, and Mr. Delacery behind her, with wide eyes. She gazes down at her appearance to find dirty feet and a stained nightgown and robe. She is embarrassed by her attire, but more embarrassed that they found her here.

     "Olive?" Freya repeats again but in more of a question like she isn't sure how to register what she is seeing. Her lips stay parted, trying to figure out what to say to the sister standing with dirt on her clothes and stray blades of her grass stuck in her hair. The braid Julie did last night is messy and strands of hair pop out of it like snakes.

     "Are you..?" Freya doesn't finish her question and Olive knows why. She couldn't know what is happening here. Olive understands that this situation, her falling asleep in the maze, can appear to be... Insane? Yes. But there is another underlining emotion she knows they won't understand. Desperation. Her heart clenches in her lungs as she grips her arms close to her, shielding herself from them the best she can. It is all she can do to hold her dignity— or the remains of it.

     "I'm sorry," is all that leaves her lips. Freya approaches with fragile footsteps while the butler hangs back to watch the scene rather than become a part of it. She imagines he must think this is his fault. She wishes to be wrong, but she knows him since she was little. He'll take the blame for this.

     Her eyes rise to the statue beside her and she expects to see Mark, but instead, she sees a granite statue. Resemblance melts away to reveal a statue she remembers running around while she was a child. Her heart breaks at the realization. Whatever happened last night was just in her head. She should've known.