“You look lost.” A deep voice rumbled.

I turned to see a hulking figure step out from the trees. He would have looked human, were it not for the two horns that curved up from his temples. Despite such beastly features, the fading light revealed that the creature wore a fine suit, as if to offer some measure of civility to his wild aspect. He began walking towards me.

Perturbed by this development, I took a few steps backwards until I bumped into a tree trunk. My eyes searched desperately for something to use as a weapon; but alas, had no success. Meanwhile, the creature had stopped a couple paces away.

For a long moment, we watched each other. The night became silent, save a cicada whirring nearby.

“Are you the devil?” I asked shakily.

The creature responded by laughing, but with its voice, the sound came out as a bellow; and the forest echoed with that horrid laugh. “No child. No I am not.”

“Why do I not believe you?”

“Because you never trust anyone, and you keep hoping that maybe one day your suspicions can feel justified. You keep telling yourself that that day will come because you need to feel right. But secretly, you keep praying for that day to arrive. You long for that moment of betrayal. How else could you justify yourself? Can you ever condone the way you have treated people all these years?”

“No offense sir, but you are not making a strong case for yourself. Now if you will excuse me, I will be on my way.”

“My apologies, but I have little worth saying about myself. You however, seem to be in a predicament.”

“And how do you know this?” I demanded.

The creature smiled and asked, “Do you want to be free?”

I was both suspicious and curious about that statement. The creature could very well be mad, but I was uncertain if I could outrun it in the darkness or not. And so, with many reservations, I nodded.

With a deep bow, the creature offered its hand, which I accepted. In an instant, we went from the still darkness of the forest to a field of ashen grass under a stormy sky. My guide was still by my side as I gaped wordlessly.

“Welcome to the other, may you drink deeply and tread lightly.” The creature said as if reciting a prayer.

“What is this place?”

“It is where the lost often find themselves.” The creature was smiling again, and I didn’t like it.

“I want to leave.”

“Tsk, there you go again being suspicious. Do you even understand what this place is?”

“No, and I don’t want to.”

“That is a lie, and it does you no credit to look foolish arguing otherwise. So please, for the sake of your mortal existence and my own patience, do not waste our time.”

“Fine. Then tell me why you have brought us here.”

“That would be too simple. If I explained everything, would that not be a waste as well?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. Turning, I found myself looking at a vast ruin. It seemed to beckon me closer. Something about it felt familiar but I could not place where I had seen them.

“Go ahead, I know you want t,” my guide whispered. “It will be alright.”

Intrigued, I found myself running for the crumbling structures. Under scrutiny, the area seemed to have been an ornate castle at some point. I could see where towers once stood, where elegant gardens had become weedy jungle, even the shattered remains of a grand banquet hall.

Then I found something strange…

Hanging over the wreckage of what had been a fireplace, was a portrait. A portrait of a proud ruler, who smiled cruelly while holding a severed head. If it had simply been that image, I may have moved on, were it not for the fact that both faces in the painting were my own.

My guide appeared beside me, chuckling. “Do you understand?” he asked.

I shook my head absent mindedly, unable to look away from the portrait. The guide led me away towards a balcony overlooking what had been the gardens. Gesturing to the tangle below he asked once more.

“Do you understand?”

I stared intently at the dull colored vegetation, begging for some answer, but once more, I was confounded. With a shrug, the guide began leading me away again.

“That garden used to be a labyrinth back in the day. Even a few years ago, its paths connected to other estates such as this.”

“What was the point of that?” I asked.

The guide sighed, staring wistfully at the overgrown terrain. “It was better back then; people could stop by at their convenience.”

“I don’t see how that is better. In a place like this, I would want privacy.”

“While that is fine and good, is not the point of privacy to be shared?”

“No. Absolutely not. Privacy means that I can mind my own business and leave others to do the same in peace.”

“What happens when your ‘business’ gets out of hand?”

I paused, considering scenarios. “Then I guess that is my problem.”

“But if you cannot control it, then it will become someone else’s problem, only they will not have the same knowledge about the situation, in which case, the price of your solitude could be another person’s life.”

“That’s being a bit dramatic, don’t you think?”

“No. It actually isn’t.” The guide stopped walking. “Nothing ever remains private forever. At some point or another, in one decade or the next, it will become someone else’s problem. Or on the off chance that you actually care about your kind, you cannot help anyone in need if they are overcome.”

I remained silent, not wanting to agitate this creature further. The tangled labyrinth lay before us, a strange monument to an unusual place; yet still hauntingly familiar. The longer I stared at it, the more I felt like I was forgetting something important. And suddenly a warm breeze blew out of the brambles, carrying with it a smell like cinnamon and mildew.

The guide watched me expectantly.

“We’re going in there aren’t we?”

He nodded, moving forward into the green unknown.

I hesitated a moment, standing there alone; and I thought about what I had seen. Then, I smelled that strange odor again, and followed it in.

It took me a moment to adjust to the darkness, but once I did, I began to understand. The messy hedges around me teamed with writhing vipers, hissing faintly. The path at my feet was covered in crumpled bits of paper, some charred, others torn; their condition didn’t matter, I knew what was written on them. As I followed the path, I heard whispers. I could not understand the words that they said, but nonetheless I knew that they wanted me to leave. I almost did, but I saw something glimmer ahead of me.

It was a picture frame, jammed into the bushes. As I reached for it, the snakes hissed louder, recoiling away from my hand. I recognized the picture. I knew whose face was scratched out of it and why. As I held it in my hand, I realized that something still hurt within me.

I carefully set the picture back in the wall, and continued onward. The path widened into flat area full of ashes. Oddly enough, whatever had caused the fire, had kept it contained to a very specific area, leaving the rest of the labyrinth unscathed. I idly began kicking through the ashes as I walked. Something poked out of the dust. After a closer look, I realized it was the remains of a rosebush, the thorns anyway. A little investigation showed more charred roses in the damned spot.

The guide stood before me once more and asked.

“Do you understand?”

“I think I am beginning to.”

He nodded, gesturing for me to follow. We moved along the winding path in silence. The further we went, the less wild the labyrinth seemed. Once more, the path widened, revealing sloppily made wall, filling the place where the path should continue. I approached it, examining the cracks and blemishes throughout.

“What is on the other side?” I asked.

The creature shrugged. “Why should I tell you?”

I briefly considered arguing with it again, but thought better of it. I grasped at a loose stone, pulling it out carefully. As it moved, I smelled the fragrance of spice and rot once more. I looked through the whole and saw somewhere that I once called home.

“I believe I understand now.”

“Really?” He stepped closer. “Do you understand the consequences of what you have done, or what you could become?”

“I know, I could end up dying alone, become a sad hermit.” I replied. “There are worse things that could happen.”

The creature stared at me, his expression somewhere between frustration and pity. “Yes child, there are many, many worse things than the fate you described. I am telling you this because your fate will not be anything so peaceful. If you do not find what is missing, you will always be lost; and there will come a day when all that you have will not be enough. I have done my best to warn you.”

I began to respond, but in a heartbeat I found myself back in town, on the other side of the woods, holding a rock that smelled like home.