FEEL FREE TO LEAVE COMMENTS, ADVICE, CRITIQUE, ETC.

* Just a disclaimer, I made this in middle school for a class assignment. I've revamped it about 2 or 3 times since, but not recently. I was too scared to read how bad it is since it's posted on my Wattpad account and is probably cringe, so I'll leave it to you guys to decide whether it's bad or not ^^ *

The Labyrinth

I woke in a labyrinth, it was dark at first. My eyes slowly adjusted to the light, it was still dark but now there was a red tint to the room around me.

"Oww!" I tried standing only to feel a jolt of pain stab through my spine just before a dizzy spout hit causing me to fall back.

I made a move to get up once more. As I rose to my knees, I breathed in the stench of mold and damp cardboard. My senses were alight, I could hear drops of water echo as they hit the ground and felt the freezing floor underfoot which brought me to the realization that I had been stripped of my shoes. Shifting, I looked down at my feet to find that I was wearing clothes that I had never before seen and most definitely did not own.

"Where did these come from?" An involuntary shudder ran through my body from the frigid air.

I wore a short sleeve shirt made of thin blood red fabric that the air went right through. Over the shirt was a thick long sleeved denim camouflage jacket but it still didn't seem to help much with the cold. My pants were black with various pockets, one right under my left knee, one under my right, and four in the normal places that you'd find pockets.

I tried standing once more, still feeling dizzy. My thoughts felt sluggish as I flopped back to the cobblestone floor. Slowly, very slowly I rose to one knee and checked the pockets on my pant legs for any objects or clues as to where I was and why I was here. I found nothing other thansome lint. I glanced around, spotting a ratty bag not far from me. I made a decision and decided to investigate so I hunched down and grabbed onto it's strap before proceeding to check the dirty sling bag that lie on the floor just inches from where I had been sitting seconds before. I opened it up and took a look at it's contents, pulling out a canteen of water (near-empty) and a key.

"A key? I wonder what it's for..." I thought outloud.

Then I turned so suddenly that it was as if my feet had a mind of their own. A dark form slipped out from the shadows of the wall. It was as if whoever it was had been a part of the wall just moments before. As the form moved to the light, I realized it was a boy, probably around my age, with light brown hair and dark brown eyes. I looked closer into his eyes and noticed golden flecks sparkling around his iris. 'Intriguing.' He regarded the red haired girl standing before him with a nod, then stuffed his hands into the pockets of his gray hoodie which was just short enough that the bottom of a lighter gray shirt poked out from beneathe it. He also adorned a pair of black pants much like mine, and a pair of black converse with a single white stripe sliding down the center of each to match the rest of his get-up.

"Um... H-hello?" I stuttered as he turned to leave.

'He looks... worried...?'

"Hey." he had with a cold demeaner as he looked back. His facial features made him look almost bored. His solid expression slowly began to dissolve under my gaze but he didn't avert his eyes. I've got to admit, he was stubborn, but not more stubborn than me.

"Who... who are you?" I mustered up the courage to ask as I continued to hold his forlorn gaze.

"Alex." he finally looked away, losing our staring contest.

"Nice name." I replied, mentally facepalming at the utter stupidity of what I'd just said.

"Nice face." he retorted sarcastically, lifting his eyes back up to mine. They now had a defiant gleam to them. I'm not really sure what expression I had at that moment, but it was most likely a mix of concern and pity because his serious expression seemed to fade into annoyance.

I wasn't sure why I did this, my body seemed to have a mind of it's own as I stepped towards Alex, "What are you doing?" he asked, obviously stunned. Before I gave myself a chance to answer, I had my hand on his shoulder and gave a small squeeze. A gesture that would typically be used to comfort someone. I felt him tense under my hand but after a moment he seemed to calm a little as I felt his shoulder relax. He lifted his hand up and gingerely removed mine from his shoulder. It was like he thought I was some diseased stray dog and it made me to feel a twinge of indignancy, but I managed to swallow my pride-... with a bit of effort.

"What was that for?" he was much less tense now as he stood with his shoulders slouching forward.

"I-I'm not really sure- it just felt like the right thing to do. My name is Erika by the way. I almost forgot that I hadn't introduced myself yet."

He looked away but only second later looked back up as if expecting me to have left already. "So... I'll be on my way then, Erika." he turned and walked away but I quietly followed because he held the only clue as to why I was here and he didn't appear to be particularly keen to harm me anytime soon. I was just doing what I do best, following my instincts and living in the moment. He glanced back, shook his head in annoyance then kept walking as if I wasn't even there. Alex turned a corner and I did too just a few seconds too late. He had disappeared. It was as if the walls had engulfed him.

I heard my heartbeat thrumming in my ears as my pulse picked up speed. I couldn't bring myself to move, I was to shocked to react. I didn't understand where he had gone and I had even less of an idea where I was now then when I first woke up.

"God... This place is like a labyrinth. How am I ever supposed to figure out which direction is the way out without Alex?! At this rate, I'm gonna be trapped here forever!"

Then, I heard it, tik tik, the gears in my head began turnimg at the strange sound. The first thing I thought of was some old Philippine legend I had read about online. It was about some creature called the Tiktik, a murderous bird-like creature that had a taste for human flesh. The legend had said when it's approaching you can hear the echoing noise, tik tik tik... tik tik... tik tik tik tik. The panic finally set in and I held my breathe for over 30 seconds as I tried to slow my heartbeat.

Whatever it was, it was getting closer and I was starting to detect the scent of something decaying... tik tik... the sound came to a sudden halt just before a gray figure with white eyes, no pupils, and a hooked beak silently glided around the corner.

I was torn between getting a closer look to find out what it was, and running. Obviously I chose to run though. I would have been an idiot to stick around.

The only way out was passed the creature since I had stupidly walked into what appeared to be a dead end after following a complete stranger. So I tore passed it, running at full speed.

One minute, I was on my way to freedom, the next moment, I saw a shadow rippling over my head as the creature soared passed me. It came to a stop mere inches away, causing me to step back in shock. It was so close now that I could smell it's rank breath.

"Leave me alone! I don't know what you are and honestly I don't think I want to find out so just leave me alone!" I shrieked. I realized that me screaming and crying wouldn't help me any or deter it in any way, but the fear rushing through me made me near senseless. It was a good thing I still had my instincts even though my wits had left or I would have died in seconds.

'If I'm going to die, I'll atleast make that thing work for it,' I was preparing to go down fighting since flight was no longer an option, besides, I had pure adrenaline coursing through my veins, making me feel damn near invincible, but before I could take a shot at the thing, it backed into the shadows and disappeared as suddenly as it had come. Then, I felt a cold hand snatch my Shoulder. One of it's hands was clutching my shoulder, dragging me with it as it's other hand tugged at a long lock of dark red curls protruding from my head.

"Stop!" It's long shiny black nails dug into my shoulder and I heard it's cold rattling voice echoing in my head.

"I will get yourrr powerrrs wetherrr you give them to me orrr I take them frrrom you. But I will have them in the end. Wetherrr yourrrr still alive orrr not, thats yourrr choice." then it's form began to ripple like water and it disappeared.

"Wait, what are you?!" I probably shouldn't have asked for it to wait, but I felt this gut clenching need to know.

A low whisper sounded then I heard a strange word "Kinatakutan..." in a low rattling voice.

"Kinatakutan...?" I mumbled to myself.

'I'm gonna want to remember that when I tell the authorities once I get out of this creepy place.' then I realized there was no possible way anyone was going to believe such an insane tale. I would be put in an insane asylum for sure if I ever seriously told someone about this.

"Erika! Where'd you go?" to my surprise, I recognized Alex's voice. He slid right through the wall, and even though I screamed so loud that I probably scared him, I still felt the sweet sense of relief to know that I wasn't stuck in an unknown place, alone with the Kinatakutan.

"Thank God! When I turned the corner you had disappeared!"I was hoping the sound of my own voice would calm me down a bit but was left in shame as a tear slid down my cheek that I swiftly wiped off hoping he didn't see it.

"Aww you missed me so much you started crying!" he smiled, a fake sympathetic look playing across his face. I was absolutely shocked by his reaction, but atleast it had infuriated me enough to make me completely forget about the absolute terror that I had been feeling just moments before.

" You Jerk. You're so condescending."

"Bug eyes."

"I do NOT have bug eyes! There may be a lot of things wrong with my physical appearance, but I do not have bug eyes!" Slowly I took a deep breath and said calmly "We're acting like children, so knock off the name calling."

"You started it!" he retorted, a wide grin spread across his lips.

"Knock it off you're so immature."

"Ok." he said then under his breath mumbled "... dope."

"I heard that." I said matter of factly.

"Simmer down hot head." he replied

"That tears it!" as soon as the words flew out of my mouth, a red hot flame flew from my hand and hit Alex. A clean shot to the stomach. I was already surprised by the fact that we we're acting as though we had known eachother for years, but as my mind finally managed to take in what had just happened, I looked to my hands and was left even more stunned as steam rolled off of them.

"That's it. Just a little more angerrr and that powerrr will be all mine." the low rattling voice made an appearance once more, causing me to shiver, "Do as he said and simmerrr down hot head." I was sure it was trying to goad me and enrage me further, but at this point I was too much of a jumble of emotions to focus on my anger. Terror, concern, fury, and irritation buzzed though me.

"I am not a hothead... and how are you doing that?!" Wind blurred into a tornado, engulfing both me and Alex. I looked to my hands not expecting anything special, only to realize that I was once again the source of the chaos. I had never felt emotions so strongly before. This maze... no, this labyrinth, something about the place was making my emotions more uncontrollable, and that's saying something since I was already practically a ticking timebomb before waking up in here. I couldn't help it as tears welled up in my eyes, I was so angry that the only way I could get rid of my anger was through crying.

'I just want a way out of here.'

"Jackpot!" Kinatakutan appeared once more and raced towards me. I momentarily blinked in surprise and when I opened my eyes, a flash, and then a bright white door stood in front of me. It took me a second to process, and when I finally had, I made a quick move to escape through the door only to catch a glimpse of Alex from the corner of my eye. I swiftly snatched Alex up and dragged him to the door and jiggled the doorknob but to no avail, it was locked. A memory shotthrough my mind as the key resurfaced. I pulled it from my pocket, jammed it into the lock, quickly twisted and turned it, then without even pulling it back out, I ran through, pulling Alex along right behind me. 'God he's heavy.' Pain shot through my shoulder as I felt Kinatakutan snatch at it once more, leaving behind three gaping scratches as I pulled away. It's like Alex didn't even exist, Kinatakutan completely disregarded him. Upon going through the white door, I found myself in a small tunnel passage. I couldn't really stop to think, so I kept running and tried to figure out what was happening on the way. Kinatakutan followed as I crawled iminto a small hole that started in the middle of the path. I was surprised he hadn't caught us yet considering that I was lugging Alex's heavy arse through with me. Ofcourse as I thought that, Kinatakutan managed to get ahold of my red locks, again, causing me to kick back purely on instinct as I ran. With some luck I reached the end of the white doors tunnel with Alex in tow and Kinatakutan not far behind.

'Please don't let him follow us out'

"Noooo!" he cried as bars slid out and blocked him from reaching the end of the tunnel.

We were now outside, back to the world I was used to, "Alex?" I dropped to my knees at his side, "I'm so sorry this is all my fault!" I balled my hands into fists, clenching his hoodie in my hand. I wouldn't bother to hide my anguish. He was barely breathing, I wouldn't be surprised if he died right then and there. If that happened, I would be left alone in my guilt. Never being able to truly repent for what I had done.

"It's okay, you managed to stop Kinatakutan from escaping for now. You saved us. I'm telling you this so you don't get yourself all worked up. I've been through worse, I just need some rest then I'll be back to normal." he said as a genuine smile sprang to his lips. I wasn't sure how to respond so I simply nodded and watched his chest rise and fall for a few moments just to be sure.

After what seemed like hours, I finally managed to pull myself to my feet and help Alex up. We walked with no place specific in mind, we walked away from our terror, away from Kinatakutan, and as we got farther, away from the strange labyrinth that would most likely haunt our dreams for years to come.