He did the same thing to the next group. It consisted of - once again - four people. They were girls that
we recognized and, sometimes, passed by during school. All four said ‘yes’ when Mr. Peterson asked them if
they had four all together.
I was starting to worry. If we didn’t have four, we couldn’t enter the haunted maze. I looked over at Elae
and Jenna to see their expressions, and they looked equally as confused and worried as I did.
We were close enough to Mr. Peterson to talk to him.
“Mr. Peterson...,” I start to say.
He interrupts me. “Don’t worry girls, you’ll have your
chance to go in. These girls just need to wait for the previous
group to exit, before they go in,” he says, gesturing to the
group of girls in front.
I look at him sharply and say, “Oh no, that wasn’t what I
wanted to ask. I was actually wondering if we’re required to
have four people in our group as we go in. If so, do you think
it’s possible if the three of us can go in, without the extra
person?” I scrutinized his face with a hopeful look.
He gave the three of us a look of sympathy. “Sadly, no
girls. The school came to a conclusion that if there were less
than four students in a group, there would not be enough time
for however many students that wanted to go in, to have the
chance to do so. We all agreed that if there were more than
four students in a group, it would increase the probability of
someone getting hurt. We’re just trying to be cautious and
look out for everyone.”
I was about to start pleading for Elae, Jenna and I, but
he continued speaking.
“Don’t worry, girls. You still have five minutes to decide
on something.”
I gave a quick nod to him, and then turned to face
Jenna and Elae on what we were going to do.
“Why don’t we find someone to go in with us?” Jenna
hurriedly suggests.
Elae agrees, but I was still unsure.
“Who? All of our other friends said they weren’t going to
go into the maze.” I was getting more anxious by the second,
not knowing what to do.
I turned behind me to see if there was anybody who
wanted to enter the maze with us. My eyes landed on a girl
behind the three of us.
I took a chance, and spoke to her. “Um… do you have
a group to go into the maze with?” Please say no, please say
no.
“No,” she simply replied.
Art by Vivian Nguyen
Staff Member, Grade 8