I Found Something Horrific in a Corn Maze

Written By Justin Hirsch
It was an early Saturday morning right at the end of September when my father informed me that we would be going pumpkin picking that day. He would be taking me, plus my cousin and grandmother up to a farm about thirty minutes away. Being ten, I was excited yet, at that age you start to feel like holiday traditions become a little childish. Whether it be trick-or-treating or leaving out milk and cookies, you feel like your to old for all of it now. Yeah, I’m double digits, I’m a big boy, that’s a bunch of baby stuff. At least that's the way I saw it at that age. I now know those traditions are all too precious to give up so soon. I was still grateful regardless, spending time with my dad was far too rare. Due to his occupation as one of the highest-ranked doctors in the state, he was always working. I could tell he tried to make time for me, he really did. Unfortunately for both of us, his job would never allow more than a few hours on the weekend of spending time together. Even then he would still have to take the occasional call. Regardless of how I felt about what we were doing, I’d try to make the most out of the time with my dad. 
Before I knew it we were only a few turns away from the farm. The ride over consisted of picking up my grandmother and cousin Susie. My grandma was fairly young, only in her early fifties, and Susie was eight. With my Dad working long hours all week, Grandma had taken the role of guardianship over me for most days. She was a caring yet strict woman but always made me feel important and worth her attention, on days my father could not give me any. I was close with Susie or at least until I turned nine when I adopted the more mature facade I had created for myself. With this new persona, I forced myself to see the typical fun things we got up to as childish and dumb. She could tell I was giving her the “cold shoulder” whenever we hung out. But with enough time, she could break me out of it. 
	We approached a turn, prompted by a red arrow sign with the word farm smeared across it in black paint. It led us onto a short gravel road with a parking attendant waiting at the end. The attendant had us drive into a grass field, which stirred a confused reaction from Susie and I. 
	“Dad!” I shouted from the back seat, “What are you doing, you can’t drive onto the grass.” 
“Calm down Fred,” my dad lectured, “this is the parking lot.”
“What?” questioned Susie, “a parking lot can’t be grass.”
“Oh yes it can,” my dad replied.
“How do you know where to park?” Susie questioned once more. 
“Ya see, they paint lines onto the grass, just like a baseball field.”
Susie and I both turned our heads to our respective windows to see firsthand what my dad was describing.
“Oh,” I said, feeling stupid that I didn’t already know that. 
I felt embarrassed and worried about what Susie would think about my ignorance of the fact you could really convert any flat piece of land into a parking lot. I looked over at her, still busy admiring the lines painted in the grass. Relief came over me when I realized she was none the wiser of my lack of knowledge. Or maybe she just didn’t care. 
The matter of finding a parking spot presented virtually no challenge since the two acres of field that made up the lot were only occupied by maybe ten other cars. I guess it was to be expected since it was both early in the day and early in the season of pumpkin picking. Most people would consider any time in September to be far too early to pick pumpkins for Halloween because, by the time the holiday arrives, they would already be rotten or eaten by an animal. But my father figured getting a head start on picking pumpkins this year would be for the best since it was unlikely he would be able to make time again before Halloween. And that fact that it would be less busy of course, he always made a deal about big crowds and how he didn’t want to get sick and miss important work. 
We pulled into a spot right in front of the barn itself. Well, it wasn’t an actual barn filled with animals. The building was only styled as a barn and was actually just the farm's storefront. It was a large building with a slanted roof and painted the classic deep crimson red essential for any barn. Above the door, sat a large sign that read Schrader's Farm est. 1958. 
	“Alright,” my dad said putting the car into park, “We're here.” 
“Finally,” Susie said unbuckling and began pulling on the door handle to no avail of getting it open. 
I unbuckled as well and began doing the same. The dreaded child safety lock had presented itself. 
“C’mon Dad, open the door,” I whined.
“Hold up guys, not so fast. Your gonna need to promise me that you’ll listen to your Grandmother and me. And you’ll be patient waiting for the tractor to bring us to the pumpkin patch,” my dad lectured in a patronizing tone. 
“Oh they’ll be fine,” my Grandmother said, lightly slapping my dad on the shoulder. 
“I’m not a baby dad! I can control myself,” I retorted, clearly angered by how my father was treating me. 
Turning around in his seat to look at us my father said, “I wanna hear an Ok before I let you two out.”
Susie and I looked at each other rolling our eyes, not wanting to give into my father's demands but really seeing no other choice.
“Ok,” we sighed replying in unison. 
My father nodded and unlocked the doors, letting us both out. 
Hopping down onto the grass I took a moment to stretch while Susie ran to the barn. The air was cool and crisp that morning, a clear sign summer was over and fall had well and truly begun. Surrounding a paved pathway that led to the front doors of the barn, were tons of scarecrows, that were all for sale, steaked into large flowerpots. I walked to Susie who was already on the path, anxiously waiting to get inside. Grandma and Dad caught up to us and we all walked to the doors. Trying to be more mature once again, I opened and held it, letting everyone in before me.
The inside of the barn was all decorated for the upcoming holiday with wooden cutouts all various Halloween characters nailed to the walls and large foam spiders hung from the rafters. Susie’s feet staggered and she gave out a small yell once she noticed the spiders.
“They’re fake, don’t worry,” I told her, in a somewhat patronizing tone.
“I know, spiders just freak me out.”
We all walked over to a counter that an acne-ridden teenage clerk sat behind. 
“Apple picking is over for the season,” The teenage clerk said in a rude tone not bothering to look up from his cell phone. 
“We're here for pumpkin picking actually,” my dad said, mimicking the clerk's tone.
“Oh, my bad,” the clerk pulled himself out of a slump and placed his phone down, “I forgot that started today.” 
He paused looking over to a clock above the entrance and when he clearly couldn’t make out what it said he turned to his phone. 
“You guys are the first ones here, the tractor leaves for the patch in about ten minutes, and the hay ride is free, you just pay for your pumpkins,” the clerk explained. 
“Alright, we don’t need anything to indicate we are the first ones in line or anything?” my dad asked. 
Dad was always a stickler about these kinds of things, if he was there first then he was going to be first. 
“Nope, there’s a gate outside where the line starts, and there should be a guy standing behind it now. You’ll see it.”
My dad said turning to us, “Alright, you guys can look around the store for a little bit with Grandma and I’m going to get in line.” 
“Hun, the man said there’s still ten minutes till they are ready to take us, and no one else is here,” my grandma said. 
“Just let me wait and that way, when people do show up we don’t have to wait until the next trip,” my dad explained quickly. 
Grandma shrugged in defeat and both groups went their separate ways. She then walked us over to a row of freshly baked doughnuts. Susie and I examined them with gluttonous expressions on our faces. 
“I’ll get you each one when we get back. Sound fair?” Grandma said. 
We turned to her and nodded in approval. We then approached a cartoony-looking, animatronic cow head mounted to a miniature barn. A large red button sat in front of the head with the text that read, press written on it. Susie did just that pushing down on the button which brought the cow to life. 
“Welcome to Schrader’s Farm, serving your community since 1958,” A loud female voice boomed from a speaker within the cow, as the jaw moved out of sync with the words. 
“At Schrader’s farm, we offer the best selection of fresh produce grown right here in our own fie-” The final words coming from it slowed down and distorted as if the power supply had slowly been sucked from it. A loud buzzing sound filled the room and the lights overhead also began to dim and flicker, until they went completely dark. The clerk looked up and made an audible groan while slapping the side of his cell phone, which too seemed to have the power drained from it. Susie stepped back frightened by the creepy deactivation of the cow. I wanted to do the same but caught myself, wanting to still look cool in front of Susie and Grandma. 
	“Hopefully they don’t cancel our hayride,” Grandma said, looking up at the ceiling. 
The buzzing got quieter until it stopped as the lights started flickering and the cow began speaking again. Then as if nothing happened at all the electricity went back to normal. Besides the clerk's phone which seemed to still be dead since he was angrily pressing the power button.
“Good,” I said to Grandma, who too seemed relieved by the electricity coming back on. 
“Let’s go out and get in line with your Dad now, the tractor should be leaving any minute,” Grandma told us pushing us along and out the door. 
Outside my Dad was waiting first in line and a few other families had begun to line up behind him. He was making conversation with the man standing behind the gate. We walked over, joining him in the line. 
“See anything interesting in the barn?” He asked
“Not really,” I replied. 
“What?” Susie said to me angrily then turned towards my dad changing her demeanor, “Yes, we saw some really tasty-looking doughnuts and Grandma said she would get us them we when got back.”
	“Oh, how lucky you two are!” Dad said.
“Are you excited to go on a hayride?” Grandma asked.
“Uh… YES!” Susie replied enthusiastically.
I didn’t respond
“What about you Fred?” Grandma asked again. 
“Yeah. I guess,” I replied in an uninterested tone while everting eye contact. 
“What’s wrong Fred? When you were little you loved hay rides, I remember you would-” 
Cutting my Grandma off I sneered, “I’m not little anymore.”
“Well, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy things you did when you were little. I still enjoy hayrides,” my grandma retorted. 
“Ok, I guess your right,” I said as a slight smirk grew on my face. 
The man behind the gate checked his watch and then clapped his hands.
“Alright!” He shouted to everyone in line, “Who’s ready to pick the first pumpkins of the year!” 
All the kids in the line, besides myself, began shouting “ME! ME!” repeatedly. 
There were about six other families going to the patch that morning. It was 11:00 am sharp and we were all about to board the tractor. 
He swung open the gate and led us to the tractor's trailer. It was a large, long platform with blocks of hay placed evenly around the inside. We each climbed up a short step-ladder onto the trailer. 
“C’mon let's sit in the back,” Susie said, “It’s the most bouncy back there.”
“No I think I’ll sit up front,” I told her. 
There I was doing it again, trying to act all mature but in reality just ruining the fun.
“Fine,” she said begrudgingly, “Your no fun.” 
I walked over to the hay bails that were the closest to the tractor itself and sat down. My dad, grandma, and Susie all followed sitting down beside me. The other families all piled on until there was no one left waiting. The man who led us to the trailer walked over to the tractor, climbed in, and then started it up. A loud roar came from the engine then we all bent forward as the tractor began moving. We quickly regained our balance and we were off toward the pumpkin patch. 
The tractor took us along a dirt path, past a small pond, along the side of the ransacked apple orchard, and finally, to the pumpkin patch. The pumpkin patch spanned across nearly three acres of land with hundreds if not thousands of bright orange and pale green gords scatter across the field. The tractor rolled to a stop underneath a tree just at the periphery of the patch. Susie and I leaned over the wooden railing of the trailer trying to spot the best pumpkin; while the other kids on the trailer all rushed to the gates wanting to be the first ones to get out. The tractor driver climbed out and walked up to the trailer.
“You guys ready?” He asked stirring the kid's excitement even more. 
He unlatched a small steel chain setting all the children free onto the pumpkin patch. They all rushed out as the parents tried their best to catch up to them.
“Go ahead guys,” dad said motioning to us with his hand, “We’ll catch up, just stick together.”
I contemplated being mature and waiting behind with the adults, but I gave in and followed Susie as she hopped off the trailer to the ground. 
“C’mon!” she said running into the patch, “Let’s find the best one!” 
I caught up with her, but it proved to be difficult to maintain speed as she was basically sprinting as fast as her tiny energetic legs could carry her. 
“Slow down,” I said panting, “We can’t find the best one if we are just running past them all!” 
She complied and we both slowed down; finding ourselves near the center of the patch with nothing but pumpkins all around us. 
“All right,” Susie said, not sounding out of breath in spite of her sprinting for the last minute, “Let’s start looking.” 
We began our search, walking side by side down a row of pumpkins, scanning each intently. A lot of them were still growing, which was to be expected since it was still early on in the season. So the small pale green pumpkins made up the majority of what was in the field that day. We turned down another row holding the same objective of finding the best pumpkin. We continued the search until Dad and Grandma caught up with us.
“Did you guys find anything yet?” my grandma asked.
“No, a lot of them are still growing,” I answered.
“Well maybe if you get tired of looking in a little bit we can go check out the corn maze.” my grandma replied. 
“There’s a corn maze?” Susie asked excitedly, “Where?”
My grandma turned to point at a wall of corn stalks on the far right side of the pumpkin patch. 
“Can we please go to it?,” Susie pleaded clasping her hands together.
“Find your pumpkins first,” my dad said, “That way the few ones that are grown won’t all be picked.”
“Good point Dad,” I said.
Susie looked displeased.
“Be patient Susie, we will get to it eventually,” I told her, which only seemed to make her even less patient. 
“Here I’ll even help you guys look for one,” my dad said, then locked eyes with me to ask directly, “If that’s alright with you?”
I nodded yes, before Susie blurted out, “Sure!”
My Dad had been aware of my newfound longing for maturity and independence. He wanted to let me have it or at least let me feel like I had it. 
Over the course of the next hour or so, we had finally decided on three pumpkins. One for me, one for Susie, and one for Grandma. At that point, we had all forgotten about the corn maze and were ready to hitch a ride back on the trailer. Susie and I carried our own pumpkins while my father was carrying my Grandma’s. 
The number of people on the pumpkin patch had grown since our arrival, yet nowhere near the amount, it would soon see in the next few weeks. The tractor had been going back and forth picking up and dropping off people all day. We walked toward the tractor which had just finished unloading the people arriving and began letting people go back on. Then two kids darted in front of us and Susie must have watched them go into the corn maze. 
“Wait!” she cried, causing all of us to come to a halt, “The corn maze!”
My Dad let out an audible sigh.
“Do you both want to go?” Asked Dad who was looking at me. 
Truthfully I did, but noticing my father's annoyance to Susie’s proposition, made me reconsider my answer. I guess my immaturity got the better of me because I answered yes after a brief moment of hesitation. 
“I don’t mind waiting with the pumpkins,” my grandmother said to my father. 
“Ok then,” Dad said with the slightest hint of enthusiasm as, I assume, he began coming around to the idea of taking us through the maze. 
The enthusiasm if any from my father was short-lived, however, as his phone rang from within his pocket. I knew exactly what this meant, even on his days off he would always have to take calls. He reached for his phone pulling it out to see who it was. 
“Shit” he mumbled, “Sorry guys I gotta take this.”
“I’ll take them then, it’s not a problem,” said Grandma.
“You sure?” Dad asked.
Grandma responded with a nod.
“Thanks, mom. Ok then have fun,” my dad said as he answered the phone and began talking with whatever person was on the other end. 
Susie and I dropped our pumpkins at my dad’s feet, and Grandma led us to the entrance of the maze. 
A sun-faded wooden cutout of a jolly-looking scarecrow holding an arrow with the word maze written on it, stood at the entrance. On the other side of the entrance was a plastic box containing maps of the maze. Susie had already taken at least ten steps inside, and I followed behind her.
“Hold on,” said Grandma taking three maps out of the box, “Take a map in case we get lost.” 
She handed Susie and me each a map. I looked it over, the maze was large but it didn’t seem all too complicated to me. I folded it up and stuck it in my pocket. 
“Only use it if we get stuck,” I said to Grandma and Susie. 
“Ok then, no cheating,” Grandma tucked the map into her pocketbook. 
We began our journey into the maze. For the first ten minutes, nothing of note occurred, just me and Susie running through the twists and turns of the maze my Grandma trying with everything she had left to keep up with us. 
I remember Susie telling me something like, “Did you know, if you keep your hand on the right side of the maze and never take it off, you’ll eventually make it back out?”
I remember thinking about it for a moment as we walked briskly down corridors of corn stalks. 
“Really?” I asked, “Where did you hear that?”
	“I watched a youtube video about it, we should try it.” 
I replied with something like, “Don’t believe everything you hear on the internet.”
Like I heard my father say to me a thousand times before but in this case, Susie was right. 
“But maybe we should try it,” I said, “If we get lost.” 
Once we had gotten deep enough into the maze, that the sounds of all the people in the pumpkin patch had gone silent, we slowed down. I took in the crisp air around us, the corn stalks lightly blew with the breeze, and the soft dirt that was bread for agriculture felt like walking on a thin layer of sand. 
“Oh, can I get a picture of you two?” My grandma asked. 
Susie and I looked at each other in horror at the proposition, knowing Grandma this would take forever. I was about to make an argument against it until I remembered I had to be the mature one. 
“Yes Grandma,” I said, “Of course, you may.” 
Susie rolled her eyes, in disbelief and disgust. I gave her a nervous, crooked smile in return. But deep down I even felt disgusted with myself. We already knew the drill, we got side by side and smiled before she even took her phone out. After another moment of Grandma shuffling through her pocketbook, she retrieved her phone. 
“Oh…” she said fiddling with it, “Shoot, I think it’s dead.”
Susie sighed in relief. 
“Oh well, your father will get one of you two when we get back then,” Grandma said. 
We continued working our way through the corn maze. Susie looked like she was getting bored, and I was too. At around twenty-five minutes in we came to a crossroads deep in the maze that seemed to transition into a new maze entirely. Instead of the straight right-angle flat turns we were used to at this point, a long wide curved path seemed to cut into the maze that was already there. I tried remembering if something like this was even on the map, but wasn’t able to picture it. I wouldn’t take it out to look though because I would be cheating according to myself. We all stopped at the intersection.
“Well, which way now?” Grandma asked Susie and me. 
I looked back at her as if to tell her, well how the hell am I supposed to know? Susie walked into the middle of the crossroads and rotated around in place multiple times. Straight ahead, seemed to continue the path we are on, to the left and right were the curved paths. The curved paths strangely seemed to interject into the straight path, as if it was a new route that had been added on. 
Susie stopped rotating ending up pointing down the left path.
“This way!” She said with a smile. 
She began walking and both I and my grandma began following her. Our footsteps made strange crunching sounds, causing me to take notice of the dirt below us. Unlike the previous paths of the maze which had just been the typical brown dirt trail, something was strange about this dirt. It was darker, nearly black and the texture was almost crunchy as if it was burnt and charred. Grandma and Susie didn’t seem to notice or pay any mind to the change, and at the time I didn’t do much other than make note of it. We walked for a while, maybe ten whole minutes, and the curved patch just seemed to stretch on and on. Almost like we were walking along the circumference of a large circle.
“Are you sure we are going the right way?” my grandmother asked, breaking the sounds of our crunching footsteps. 
Susie and I stopped and turned to look at her. We obviously didn’t know. 
“We’ve been in this maze for nearly forty minutes,” She said consulting her wristwatch, “I’m checking the map.”
I didn’t argue because at this point I even knew we were lost. She retrieved it from her pocketbook and scanned it over. 
“Come here Fred, where do you think we are?” She said, lowering the paper so we could both look at it. 
I looked for the curved path but there was none to be found of any sort on the page. 
	Lightly pulling the paper from her I said, “I don’t see any curved paths on here.”
Susie walked over to look at it as well despite having her own. 
“I know,” Grandma said frustrated, “I don’t know where we could be.”
I handed the map back to her and she looked over it once more before putting it back into the bag. 
“I think we should turn back,” Grandma said.
“No,” said Susie, “If we keep our hand on the rights side and follow that all the way we will get back out!” 
Grandma knelt down to Susie, “Sweety, at this point I think it's quicker to just go back now.”
Susie hung her head in defeat and we turned around to begin our walk back. We only took just a few steps before an ear-splitting scream echoed through the cornstalks. We all stopped with a jump. The scream sounded like the person who was in agony, a disturbing wail of true excruciating pain. And it was very close, just a few more steps around the curve, and then perhaps whoever was making the sound would be visible. All of us looked at each other nervously, as a million thoughts went through our minds. I began to walk forward on my own, silently volunteering myself to investigate the sound. Grandma grabbed me by the shoulder, stopping me before I could go any farther.
“Let me go check it out,” She whispered, “Wait here.”
Susie and I obliged. Grandma walked toward the scream taking long slow steps until she was just out of our field of view. 
“What do you think it is?” Susie asked me, trembling. Her cheery and energetic demeanor had evaporated. 
“Maybe someone hurt themselves,” was the only logical answer I could come up with at that moment.
Then with a loud snap, the screaming cut out abruptly, and the following silence was deafening. The cornstalks stood perfectly still all around us, and the only thing to be heard was my ever-increasing heart rate. 
Grandma still hadn't returned to our line of vision yet and we hung on to each second just waiting for her to come back. I took a deep breath and then began marching forward slowly, trembling more and more with each step. Each crunch of my foot sounded like an earthquake, as I slowly but surely rounded the bend. A deep sense of relief washed over me as Grandma came into view. She was standing still looking at something ahead of her, something from where I was standing I couldn’t see. 
“Grandma,” I choked out in a whisper. 
She turned her head towards me, her expression one of sheer terror. I was taken aback by the look on her face. She fully turned and approached me quickly. 
Grabbing me by the shoulder her hand violently trembling, “We need to go now, where is your cousin?”
I couldn’t wrap my head around why she was so frightened, I wanted to ask her a million questions at that moment but it was evident there was no time. All I could respond to her question with was a simple point. With her hand still on my back she hurried me along. We returned where Susie was still frozen in the spot I had left her in. 
“What's wrong?” she asked nervously. 
“Come on we need to go,” Grandma said, barely slowing down. 
Susie didn’t move and tears began to roll down her cheeks. Grandma stopped me, then rushed to Susie. 
“Susie, I need you to come with us now,” Grandma said in the calmest tone she could muster. 
“Why,” Susie pouted, “What's wrong?” 
“Susie,” Grandma’s tone became more aggressive, “We need to go.” 
Susie nodded and Grandma wrapped her arm around her small shoulder frame, pulling her along. We all began jogging deeper into the maze. We must have gone on for another five minutes before coming to yet another crossroads. Once again a four-way intersection: the path ahead was the same path we were already on, and to the left and right were straight paths that seemed to lead into more curved or circular paths. The right path cut into the curve and the left cut out of it. Grandma frantically looked down through each one, crucially contemplating our next move. 
“What’s going on,” I said firmly, “You need to tell us.”
She got down on my level and said reluctantly, “I saw a… well I’m not too sure what kind of animal it was, it must have been a bear. But it attacked a person.”
“That's who was screaming?” I asked.
“Yes, he was,” she hesitated, “Being mauled by it.”
Susie's eyes got watery again from Grandma's frightening confession. 
“It's ok, as long as you follow me and be quiet, we can find out way out of here,” She said trying to comfort Susie. 
Trying to keep my cool, I walked forward into the intersection. 
“We should go this way,” I said, pointing down the right path, “It's the direction we came from, it’ll lead us back. It has too.” 
“I think you are right,” She said grabbing Susie’s hand. 
We all went down the right path, it started out going straight then it came to another curved path that went left and right. Grandma groaned when she realize we had to make another decision on which way to go. Before we made any moves however I began trying to map out the curved part of the maze in my head. It started out on a long and constant curve almost like a circle, then two branching paths that lead into smaller curved paths, which was where we were now. I began to think about the concept of cutting circles into fields and it seemed very familiar. I knew I learned about it somewhere before. I just couldn’t connect the dots in my head to remember what they meant or why they were important.
“Oh… which way, which way?” Grandma asked herself. 
“I think it might loop around, I’m pretty sure it’s a circle pattern,” I told her. 
“I hope you are right,” She said leading us down the left turn. 
Being able to sense how the trail curved it did appear to be a circle. It brought us to another decision to make, a straight path appeared on the left side of us, and if we continued on the path we were on it seemed it would loop back around. 
“This way,” I said leading us into the straight path. 
The pattern of straightaways and circles continued on and on, each circle path getting gradually smaller. If my mind map proved to be right then I suspected we were going deeper into the original large curved path we were on.
“I think we may be getting ourselves more lost,” Grandma said.
“Well, I’ve been trying to map it out in my head. I think we are basically on the inside of the original circle or curved path we were on,” I explained trying to help her understand my theory.
“Ok… I sorta understand,” she replied.
“We are probably almost at the other side, which might be our way out.”
We walked through one more curve until we came to another straight path. But this one was different, It was wider and way longer breaking the pattern. 
“This has to be it!” I said, “The way out, come on!” 
We all began running down the straightaway until we reached the end. What we came to wasn’t the way back, but what we were about to see made me fully realize what we had gotten ourselves into. 
We found ourselves in a large open circular plot. Unlike the paths before it that seemed to outline circles, this area was the inside of one. And in the center of this open area, was something none of us could explain let alone understand. 
	We stood still for a moment then we all approached the object in the center, our eyes fixed and unable to be pulled away. Before Susie and I got within arms reach Grandma grabbed our shoulders, stopping us from getting any closer. Sitting right in front of us was a giant, thick chrome disk. Or, what would be better described as a flying saucer, a real UFO. Then it all clicked.
Not taking my eyes off the machine I said, “Crop circles.”
“What?” Grandma whimpered. 
“We aren’t trapped in a normal maze, because this one,” I said, “this one was made by aliens.”
Now I was more amazed than scared, and it appeared Susie was as well. I looked back up at Grandma, she had a look of stress and terror. 
“N-no,” She stuttered, “This has to be a joke, some joke to scare us. It’s probably some Halloween prop. Y-your father probably came up with this. He’s the one always watching that stupid show with you.”
“You mean Ancient aliens?” I asked.
It is true that my dad loved watching it with me whenever he got the time. It’s the only way I knew about crop circles in the first place. And considering what Grandma had said, it wasn’t entirely out of the realm for my father to do a grand gesture of sorts to make up for the lost time spent together. But this was too elaborate and too much was left up to chance for us to even find the path in the first place.
Grandma nodded yes in response to my question. 
We stood there looking it over for who knows how long until Susie reached out to touch it. 
	“No! Susie,” Grandma shouted but it was too late. 
Susie tapped on its metallic exterior with her pointer finger, and nothing appeared to happen. 
“See,” Susie said, “it's fine.” 
And it did appear to be fine, until that same buzzing sound we heard in the barn during the power outage began to emanate from the saucer. Susie, startled, pulled her hand away and a guilty look came across her face. Then footsteps, heavy and fast. The sound was made clear by the distinct crunching of the charred soil. Each one got louder as whatever was making them drew closer to us. We all turned around frantically trying to trace where it would be coming from. 
I didn’t know what it could be at first, but then it hit me. It was the reason we couldn’t go back the way we came and why Grandma looked so frightened upon our discovery of the spaceship. The “bear”, according to her, was coming right for us. My legs went weak and my heart sank as I came to the realization. 
By the time my mind had put the puzzle together, Grandma was already face down on the ground with the “bear” on top of her. 
I assume in an act of primitive human survival instinct my body went into autopilot, and I rushed toward Susie who was standing in shock with tears rolling down her face. I grabbed her and pulled both of us into the cornstalks. 
After that, I found myself coming out of the state of mindless instinct. Hidden behind a few layers of cornstalks, I watched as my Grandmother was disemboweled and mutilated by something that was certainly not a bear. I wanted to react in the only way I knew how: scream and cry until someone came to save us. But I couldn’t do that, not now. Susie, who had her head buried in my chest, needed me to be the mature person I had tried to be all this time. We both needed me to be that person now. 
I turned my head away from the scene of gore in front of us, as Susie and I clung to each other, her cries being muffled by my sweatshirt. For what felt like ages, but in reality only a minute, we sat there listening to sounds of violent dismemberment. Once the noise had stopped I begrudgingly glanced back over to the bloodbath. I won’t describe what became of my Grandma but even the most experienced coroners would have gagged at the sight. 
But standing right above the scattered mess of flesh, blood, and bone was the creature, the bear, THE ALIEN! 
Alien would be the only word that comes close enough to classify it. It was unlike any animal, insect, or bear on this planet. Maybe you could argue it resembles a crude combination of a few species but even then it was something out of this world.
It must have been eight or nine feet tall with a large bulbous head that two antennas protruded out of. Three large black shiny eyes sat just below its forehead that were spread out triangularly. Filling out the face was its mouth, cylindrical and tube-like it hung from its head. The only thing comparable to its mouth, is the mouth of a tardigrade; which I had learned about in science class only days before. But unlike the tardigrade’s, it was much longer. It also seemed to have control over the way it moved similar to the way an elephant controls its snout. Its body was merely a neck connecting the head to its legs. And the legs were the worst part, it had six of them. Similar to a spider’s they were long and bent, ending in sharp points.
After it finished its meal or successfully dispatched the intruder, it reared its ugly head to look for us. 
I held Susie tight and whispered in her ear, “You can keep your eyes closed but just be quiet. Please.” 
Susie didn’t respond but I knew she got the message. The alien slowly crawled around the saucer, its grotesque legs carrying its grotesque head. It was looking for us, there was no doubt in my mind. In a jolt of movement, it swung its head down to look under the spacecraft. It was like it was playing a game of hide and seek with us. Once it made sure we weren’t under there, it continued its search and began crawling toward the cornstalks. My heart began pounding out of my chest as it drew closer. I tried holding my breath, doing everything I could to not make a sound. It came up to the wall of corn, just to the left of where we were hiding. It then extended its terrible hose-like mouth into the corn stalks. It wasn’t as long as a snake but it moved like one. Bending and slithering up and down as far as it could, almost like it was trying to sniff us out. Maybe it wasn’t a mouth, maybe it was its nose, or maybe it was both. The creature crawled along toward where we were hiding very slowly scanning each spot it stuck its tube. It got closer and closer until it was right in front of us. I leaned back as far as I could without making a sound. I was staring straight into its mouth as it wriggled around. I felt its breath, or whatever type of gas was coming out of it, being lightly blown on my face. I closed my eyes and waited, I surely thought that this was the end. But moments later it continued working its way around the circle. Somehow it didn’t sense us. I continued holding my breath until it finished searching for us moments later. It crawled away from the cornstalks as I assume, it gave up its search. It disappeared back into the path from the way we came in. I finally gasped for air and dragged my sleeve across my forehead wiping the sweat that was pouring off of it. I wanted to sit there and wait until someone came and found us, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. 
“We have to get up now,” I whispered to Susie, “Keep your eyes closed and hold on to me. We are going to stand now.”
She nodded her head in approval and we both slowly rose to our feet. Since the alien had exited from the way we came in, going that way was off the table. But I worried however that it might be the only way can go. 
Slowly we took steps until we just barely emerged from the wall of corn.
I looked to Susie, who was clung to my side, making sure her eyes were still closed. Luckily they were because if she had seen what became of Grandma, her shrieking at the top of her lungs was nothing but guaranteed. 
I scanned the area for another possible exit and tried my best to avoid looking at the pile of human remains. There was another way, just opposite the side we entered from. I couldn’t be sure if it would truly lead us out or just be a dead end, but it was a risk we would have to take. 
“Just walk with me and you’ll be fine,” I whispered to Susie, as we both held onto each other and began walking. 
We came to the entrance of the path. I looked back at the saucer which was still sitting in the center of the circular plot. It served as a grim reminder knowing that if this path didn’t lead us out, that would be it. With a deep breath from myself, we began walking forward down the path. It seemed to be an exact copy of the path we came in on, which gave me hope that this would lead us out.
“Is…” Susie finally spoke, “Grandma-”
“D-don’t” I cut her off. 
If she finished that sentence, I wouldn’t have been able to hold it in any longer. 
We continued our march through the path and I continued working out my mind map in my head. The path we were on now seemed to be an exact copy of the path we entered the “UFO area” on. Then I thought that this must mean that the “UFO area” is the center of the main big circle; the one we entered the alien's crop circle on. Now I was positive the path we were on now would lead us out. 
In no time at all, we came to the end of the path which lead us out to the main circle just like suspected. Now it was only the matter of going left or right that would lead us out. One way would bring us back to the real corn maze and the other would have us loop around the whole circle most definitely causing us to cross paths with the alien. This is where my mind map failed me, I couldn’t figure out which way to go. 
“Susie,” I whispered, “Open your eyes now.”
She did, and then looked at me. 
“This is the main path, do you remember which way we first came from?” I asked. 
She did just that but nodded her head no. 
Still standing in the “doorway” connecting the paths, I peered my head out looking left and right over and over. I didn’t- no I couldn’t make a decision. We were so close to freedom but this one choice was blocking our escape. I began to grow very frustrated very quickly, all the emotions I had built up were turning into anger. I was about to begin ripping out my hair then-
Crunch, a footstep it was no mistake. All that anger instantly turned to fear as my blood ran cold knowing that we would be face-to-face with the creature once again. 
	“Hey,” a voice called out from a close distance.
It wasn’t the alien, it was another person. The relief came and went very quickly however because I realized that the person was unintentionally calling for the creature to come and kill him. I wanted to run out and stop him from talking but I was too afraid the alien would have already made it to him. 
“Hello, anyone!” the voice cried again, now sounding like it was coming from the left just next to us.
He was too close to us now to let him draw the attention of the alien so I stepped out to make myself seen. It was a middle-aged man, with a gruff beard and a trucker hat, whom I had clearly startled by basically jumping out in front of him. 
“Oh!” he shouted.
“Shhhhhh,” I hushed him harshly. 
“I-I-I’m sorry,” the man said taken aback, speaking much more quietly in a slight southern accent, “Is everything ok? Is there an adult with you?”
“No,” I said, “To both of your questions. We need to get out of here.”
“Are you hurt, what happened?” He asked, “And did you happen to see a little blonde boy run through here, he’s my son, he ran off. I tried lookin’ for him and now I’m lost.”
“There’s no time to explain,” I said fanatically, clearly causing confusion for the man, “Listen, I’m sorry but your son… your son is most likely dead.”
“Dead?” he said in a shocked laugh, “What the hell are you talkin’ about? This is only a corn maze. What are you trying to scare me for?” 
“Please, sir!” I begged, raising my voice regardless of the obvious danger it brought, “We need to leave!”
“Ok, ok,” He said placing his hands on both of his knees, “I’d help you look for a way out but these paths don’t seem to appear on the map.”
We stood there in silence for a moment, before the man spoke once again.
“Alright… I need to continue looking for my son. Y’all can come with me if you-”
The man stopped as the sounds of rushing footsteps came from behind increasing in speed and volume. The alien was back. 
“Billy?” He turned around and shouted. 
All I could do was scream NO in my head as it rounded the bend and sprinted right for the man. 
He had no time to react as it lunged for him. Leaping into the air its frontmost legs landed on the man's shoulders causing him to be pushed to the ground on his back with the alien pinning him to the floor. We took this grim opportunity to run for it. I took Susie by the hand and we darted away from the man and alien. I sprinted as fast as I could practically dragging Susie behind me. I looked back only once to see the man struggling with the beast, he grabbed it by the mouth as it pushed the sharp tips of its legs deeper into his shoulders until it penetrated the skin. This caused him to let go in pain, and then his fate was sealed. Then I looked away. I kept running and running, yet the way out was nowhere in sight. This one curved hallway of cornstalks just seemed to stretch on for infinity. Then the worst possibility came true as crawling footsteps came from behind growing louder and closer by the second. It wasn’t going to let us get away again. Even with no breath left in my lungs, I ran even faster, Susie had to skip in order to not be dragged across the ground. Even with my speed, it was gaining on us quickly. The galloping legs of the monster were within yards behind us.
Then I saw it, dead ahead, the exit from the crop circle. The exact place we had entered this nightmare from originally. The opening was just on the left of us I veered towards it as we approached it trying not to lose any speed. With the alien only inches behind Susie, I pulled both of us into the exit. 
We landed with a thud as we slid across the dirt. I closed my eyes and balled up in a fetal position to wait for the alien to come and end me. But it never did. After a brief moment of silence, I slowly opened my eyes and lifted my head. I first saw Susie, who was sitting on her knees looking toward the way we came. I then fully turned to see what she was looking at. The alien stood there, right at the edge of where its crop circle began and where the real maze ended. We both stared at it for a long moment and it did the same. Then, with a wiggle of its mouth tube, it crawled away like we never existed to it. All this time it was just protecting its territory. Susie and I sat there in shock for a while longer. 
Eventually, we got up and began finding our way out of the real maze. By using the map and Susies right wall trick, we managed to make our way out in an insulting ten minutes. 
If we just did this from the beginning, was the only thought that passed through my mind over and over again as we walked. We made it to the final real exit, the one that lead back out to the pumpkin patch. Susie and I walked out to see kids and family’s enjoying themselves and having a good time, completely oblivious to the horrors that lie within the maze. My father was sitting on a bench with the three pumpkins still talking on the phone unaware of how much time had passed. At this point I couldn’t hold it in anymore, I collapsed to my knees and began crying. Many people began to look at me, but I couldn’t care less about the scene I was causing. My Dad looked over too, he then quickly hung up the phone and rushed over to me.
“What's wrong? Where’s grandma?” he asked me kneeling down and grabbing me by the shoulders.
He looked up at Susie who was just barely crying at this point, I guess she didn’t have any tears left.
	“Come here Fred,” My Dad said hugging me, “What happened?” 
I just kept crying. 
But he must have got some semblance of an answer to his question when a loud buzzing sound came from the sky. Everyone looked up and watched as a giant metallic disk glided over the pumpkin patch before ascending high into the clouds.
Category:Places
Category:Beings