The thought of being attacked in my own home filled me with a sense of righteous anger that fueled my second offensive. I charged at Darrell Gene with the sledgehammer held out in front of me. The handle caught him under the chin; I pushed until he hit the wall and then I pushed some more, enjoying the way his face turned red as I cut off his oxygen supply.
I exerted all the force I could muster, hoping to make him pass out. However, Darrell Gene knew a thing or two about fights. Before he ran out of oxygen, he kneed me in the bread basket. I sucked wind and tried to stay on my feet.
Darrell Gene charged at me like an outraged bull, still holding on to the sledgehammer. I fell onto my back, and he fell on top of me. He managed to get the handle against my throat and put all of his weight on me. The handle pressed into my windpipe, cutting off my air. I gasped and struggled and flailed and thrashed, but Darrell Gene was too heavy for me to budge. As everything started to go black around me, I thought it was a shame that I’d endured all of the trials and tribulations of the maze only to die like this.
My regret quickly became surprise; Darrell Gene’s eyes bugged out in panic as Carl slipped up behind him and choked him with a strand of telephone wire. The big man flopped like a fish out of water, but Carl didn’t loosen his grip.
I seized the moment- and the knife from Darrell Gene’s hand- and stabbed him in the shoulder. I had aimed for the gut, but he was flailing too violently to give me a stationary target. The big man howled as I buried the blade in his flesh.
As I struggled to regain my breath, I noticed that Amy had been the one to cut Carl loose. She started toward me but I waved her away. I didn’t want her getting hurt in the fracas.
Carl didn’t let go of the telephone wire until Darrell Gene passed out. Seeing the big man’s strength go was like watching the water leech out of the hull of a capsized ship. Once the blood supply to his brain was cut off, he didn’t merely fall- he crashed to the ground so hard he rattled all of Amy‘s fine china in the kitchen. Satisfied that the danger had passed, Carl passed out right beside him.
“Call 911!” I tied Darrell Gene‘s hands and feet. The last thing I wanted to do was to fight this behemoth again. Truth be told, I was tired of fighting all my enemies, regardless of the faces they chose to wear.
Once I was sure he wasn’t going anywhere, I took a long, hard look at Amy and began to cry. “Are you okay?” It seemed surreal that I had finally made it back to her.
“I am now.” She couldn’t stop weeping either.
The two of us held each other for the longest time, interrupted only by the sound of Judith clearing her throat.
“I’ve got a little man that’s been missing his daddy.”
Sobbing like a baby now, I grabbed Peter and hugged him tightly to me, loving the way his hands explored my hair and his soft lips brushed against my stubbled cheek.
“I guess I’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”
“It can wait.” Amy gingerly touched the wound on my head. “I know what Darrell Gene did. Whatever he wasn’t responsible for, we can talk about later. For now, I want to enjoy my family again.”
“I can live with that.” I pulled Judith into the group hug.
“Praise God!”
I couldn’t have said it any better.
Although I was completely focused on my family, I couldn’t help noticing the way Darrell Gene’s blood pooled beneath him. It reminded me of what had happened at Karen’s apartment complex after I’d been shot. I looked at that maroon puddle and gasped to see the reflection of a new maze materialize. It was much darker and more menacing than mine had been, but it was a labyrinth nonetheless.
I wondered if Darrell Gene realized what had happened to him yet.
If not, I knew it wouldn’t take long.
Asterion would find him.
What happened after that was up to him.
Chapter 37
When Darrell Gene woke up, he wasn’t bleeding out in the Burroughs’ living room. He was somewhere else; in a place that was dark and creepy and full of devious laughter. It was a place made up of hallways that twisted and turned. It smelled like sickness and disease and the faintest hint of sulfur.
He didn’t know what had happened or how he got here, but the voices in his head weren’t just in his head anymore. He heard them whispering at the end of the corridor. They were here with him in the flesh.
Darrell Gene trembled with fear and turned to run when he inadvertently kicked something with his foot.
He looked down to see a glass bottle with a note inside.
Frantically, Darrell Gene pulled the note out and strained to read it in the dark.
“This is a maze of disgrace. You are trapped here until you figure a way out. There is a minotaur loose in these hallways who would like nothing more than to feast on your transgressions. There are worse things than the minotaur. This is your own personal journey. Make the most of it.”
Darrell Gene read the note a second and a third time, trying to make sense out of it all.
He didn’t get a chance to read the note a fourth time.
He was interrupted by the clop-clop-clop of hooves on cement. Something was coming.
“Hello.” A deep voice thundered from the other end of the hallway. “I’ve been expecting you.”
“No!” Darrell Gene turned and ran.
Chapter 38
It’s been six months since I left the maze, and I’ve tried to go back to a normal life. I’ve done my best to mend my relationship with Amy and be more of a father to Peter. I’ve tried to adapt my behavior based on the things I learned inside the maze. Thankfully, my life reflects the changes, and I’ve rediscovered the ability to hope again. That, in itself, is a step in the right direction, but everything isn’t sunshine and roses.
I’ve tried to convince myself that the worst is behind me. I tell myself that I escaped from that maze for a reason, and that better days are ahead. The dreams argue against that. They tell me I’m not through with the maze; not by a long shot.
At night, while Amy and Peter sleep peacefully, I dream of dark hallways, of new and inventive traps, of Darrell Gene wandering the same corridors as me. I also dream of revenge.
Although it’s not a Christian virtue, I want to make that man pay for what he did to my family. I also find myself praying for him more and more. It’s strange that such feelings can coexist, and yet they do. I know he needs God in his life just like everyone else, but that doesn’t keep me from hating the torments he inflicted on me and those I love.
Somehow, based on the content of my dreams, I suspect that I’ll see Darrell Gene Rankin again. Face to face.
Fittingly enough, when we meet in my dreams, we meet in the shadow-filled corridors of a maze. That’s enough to convince me that I’ll see the inside of one again.
I don’t know how I’ll reenter the labyrinth, and I don’t know when. I don’t even know what I’ll be expected to do once I get there. But, I’ve learned enough from my strange experiences to know that I shouldn’t always discount things that seem impossible at first mention.
The maze, after all, is real enough. But so is my fear.
Until I find myself stumbling in darkness again, all I can do is meditate on the things I learned and pray for God‘s guidance.
I only hope my faith is strong enough.
I pray that it will be.
The Maze - the Lost Labyrinth Page 18
