The man was drenched with thick blood, oozing from the open wounds on his body. The cuts on his arms and legs were deep. They resembled large bight marks, and the gashes made by prickly-ash. His body became numb from the continuous loss of blood. The cuts were gushing like a chocolate fountain, thick and constantly churning. He was whimpering from the horrible pain.
The man struggled as he tried to run but could not stop limping like an injured deer. He wheezed as he ran because of the broken ribs that challenged his every breath. Tears were slowly washing away the crimson colored syrup on his face. He had never felt such horrible pain. The pain felt like he was being stabbed by massive needles over his entire body. He ran as fast as his body would let him, motivated by fear and adrenaline.
The man limped along, not knowing where he was. The maze of hedges was far to challenging to navigate for a man of his condition. The turns and forks in the maze of hedges seemed to never come to an end. His body urged him to stop, but he knew that stopping would mean an excruciating death.
The man started to cry more than any other man had ever cried before. The pain started to consume his thoughts and began to slow him down. As he struggled along, he got a chill up his spine. He could hear the sound of crumbling chips made by footsteps in the frozen grass and leaves behind him. Suddenly, a beast of unknown origin let out a load roar, similar to a lion’s, that consumed all other noise in the maze. The man began to run as fast as he could and rounded a corner, ignoring the pain. He quietly slipped into the hedge and hid from the creature.
The cuts on the man’s arms and legs were deep and flowing like a thick lagoon. The memory of jagged teeth digging into his flesh, haunted him. The blood was beginning to thicken and create scabs. The wounds he sustained should have been fatal, but his body seemed to disagree. His body fought to beat the odds every second. He sat in utter shock as his blood slowly gurgled from every wound.
Suddenly, a dark figure with the profile of a large, bulging beast trudged past the man. The man almost had a heart attack when the figure stopped in front of the hedge where he was hiding. He could feel his heart in his throat as he tried to hold his breathe for as long as possible. He started to lose consciousness but fought on to not be seen or heard. Then the beast continued on, trudging through the maze looking for its prey. When the figure rounded a corner, the man let out a breath and filled his lungs with fresh oxygen, relieving him like air-conditioning in summer.
The man started to feel extremely tired and numb. He began to shake because of the devastating amount of blood loss he experienced. He contemplated whether he should run again or rest in the safe cover of the hedge. While the man contemplated, he began to yawn and his eye-lids became as heavy as stone. Then he passed out, stumbling to the ground from complete exhaustion.
The sound of evil laughter and the scratchy, wool texture of the hedge woke the man up from the rest he desperately needed. The evil laughter was not like that of a beast or large creature, but that of a small child who was not sane of mind. He could hear multiple beings laughing. The laughter was getting closer. He slowly crept out of the hedge and strayed from the laughter.
The wounds that covered the man’s body were now dry and beginning to heal. The pain of the wounds still persisted even though the healing process had already started. There was no longer any light except from the stars far above in the night sky. The ground was pitch black, and the man could not see anything.
As the man slowly limped through the maze, he heard quiet footsteps. The footsteps were subtle but persistent. He continued walking with caution. Then the crack of a bone braking under a large foot of whatever seemed to be following him echoed through the air behind him. He began to run as fast as he could, out of fear, down a straight chute of the maze. The hedges seemed to never come to a turn because the man never ran into any hedges while sprinting through the dark.
As he ran, he could hear the loud panting of a dog and soft growl noises following close behind. The noise was growing louder and louder, closer and closer. The beast was catching up to him. He started to wheeze and struggle slowing down. The man began to panic and pray for the first time in his life. Then the unthinkable happened. His foot caught on an exposed root, sending him flying forward. He tried to get up after the fall, but when he put pressure on his left foot he collapsed. His ankle had busted, and the pain was devastating.
The man dropped to the ground and desperately scrapped with his hands, digging into the soft and moist ground, trying to move forward. He shimmied across the ground, moving slowly. The man realized something that was relieving but was also bothersome. He noticed that there was dead silence, not even the slightest sound. He slowed down to a comfortable pace and felt of sense of rest.
Suddenly, the familiar feeling of large teeth digging into legs confronted the man. The pain was unbearable, as blood started to flow like a garden hose out of his arteries. His vision started to blacken and fade. He thrashed and wiggled trying to escape the grasp of the beast’s jaw, making his wounds deeper and more destructive. This was it. This was the end. He screeched like a barn owl. He could not escape. Nothing could save him from this fate.
The man suddenly woke up on the rustic spring mattress that he called a bed. He was covered in sweat and was shaking ferociously. The man was half scared to death. The familiar feeling of his bed comforted him. As the man laid in bed, his heartbeat slowed, returning to its normal pace. He took a deep breath and began to relax and recover from the terrifying nightmare.
Lying on the bed, the man started to enter deep thought. He began to realize that he was taking his beat-up bed and little shack on the outskirts of the city for granted. He realized that he had been wishing for more than what he had needed. He concluded that his living situation was good enough and that life could be far worse. The nightmare had actually helped him become grateful.
The man finally came out of his deep thought and started to stretch. The night’s chill left his body. Then he wiggled his way from out of the thin layer of blankets like a toddler. He placed his feet on to the ice-cold, oak-wood floor that had turned grey from the wear and tear of the outside weather. He stood up and made his way to the hook that held the only clothes and hard hat he owned. The cool air that seeped through the small cracks in the walls chilled him and gave him goose-bumps as though he had just exited a pool.
The man slowly dressed himself for a hard day of work at a construction site that payed minimum wage. Once he finished, he made his way over to the small table that contained the small amount of bottled water, bread, peanut-butter, and some granola bars. He made a peanut-butter sandwich, grabbed some water, and a granola bar. He stuffed his lunch into a brown paper bag and was ready to leave. Although he had little possessions and food, he felt extremely grateful.
The man shuffled quickly to the door, ready to make the five-mile hike to work. He paused for a moment at the door and looked back at all of his possessions. He was satisfied with what he had. He slowly pried open the large door and was quickly filled with a tremendous amount of fear.
As he opened the door to the outside world, the man was met with the magnificent view of a maze made of hedges which seemed to never come to the end. The man wanted to reenter his house, but when he turned, his house was no longer there. He started to shiver and began to cry. He knew what his fate would be. This man was not ready to die or say goodbye to the wonderful life he had lived.