The Jabberwock

An earthy scent spiraled around as my shoes touched over gravelly terrain that would gradually transition into dirt. The Sun’s beams radiating on my skin made my head damp. The farm had many fruit trees all standing equidistant from one another, in a straight line. There were many stores, where you could buy things ranging from large fruit bags to pumpkins. The counter of a store had fresh apple cinnamon donuts that smelt like a pastry bakery fused with the finest apples.

“Could I get one, please?” I said, as I looked up into the eyes of the cashier, who was topped with a straw hat.

“Of course, you should try out the corn maze too when you’re done!”

“Ooh, sure!” I proclaimed. My naivety happily accepted something I would later regret. It was only a corn maze. I had done mazes on paper, it’d be easy, right? My sister and I walked to the grand corn maze that had scarecrows guarding each side of the entrance.

“Let’s race!” A direct challenge to me, and it was something I would win. My ego accepted this, and I was going to beat my sister.

“I’m gonna win”, I whispered under my breath. I wasn’t afraid that I was going to lose, I was afraid because I was alone. As I pathed through the maze, there were pumpkins laced around with engravings to mock a human’s smile. I started to become more worried as the sun began to set. I hadn’t been there for long, I thought, but at the same time I couldn’t tell. I heard shuffling behind me, and I turned around only to see a scarecrow. I froze, and ran yelling for help. The scarecrow was just a normal scarecrow, but in my mind it was terrifying. After enough running, I lost him. I heard more shuffling behind me, and that triggered my flight response. It was only half an hour of being in the labyrinth, but the minotaur was already chasing me. I somehow managed to make it out of the maze, thinking I was being chased by scarecrows. A few seconds later, my sister popped out of the same exit as me. I could only pant, forgetting about my victory.

“Did I scare you?” she laughed. At that moment I sulked as I realized my sister was the scarecrow, and I had been running from her. I’ve never been in a corn maze since, and I don’t plan on being in one after that. I never looked at scarecrows in the same way again. I’ll never fall under the trance of an apple cinnamon donut again.