Between Worlds of Corn

~Between Worlds of Corn~

It was hot that morning. Not the usual level Arizona heat, but something even more unbearable. The air was almost unbreathable, and the sun didn’t help. In the small valley stuck between clusters of Arizonan mountains the heat felt even more suffocating. Cal Capitalis had been up since 6:30 that morning. He had heeded his uncle’s warning about that day’s high temperatures predicted earlier in the week by the Phoenix Tribunes latest paper. Waking up early would help him get his chores done before the autumn sun reached its peak and evaporated his energy, he thought to himself. Yet here he was at 12:22 still working on his uncle’s broken, piece of junk tractor. The worst part was knowing he would have to fix it again. In his uncle’s mind, tractors were too expensive to replace, so without one they would have to go back to using the horses to harvest their crops, the horses however had gotten lazy in the past couple of years due to disuse, and were more of an expense then an asset to the farm. The summer of 1923 had not been kind to Cal and his uncle Thomas, the reasoning being a new government policy that only permitted farmers to buy a set amount of seeds per year. This policy was almost certainly directed at corn farmers who had flooded the market with produce the year before, lowering the price on corn to record levels. Cal finished doing what he could to hold the tractor over till the inevitable next repair, rushing inside to escape the heat he sat down for lunch at the kitchen table across from his uncle. “We didn’t do too great Cal” he announced, staring at the yearly expense report, “I reckon we will have to sell the horses before winter” Cal said. “Reckon? We will for sure.” replied his uncle, “And even that might not be enough.” they both stared down at the table for a minute contemplating the increasing seriousness of their situation. Suddenly his uncle smacked his hands down on the table and grinned, “Some good news though, I’ve found a treat for you.” Cal looked up eagerly, “What is it?” “It’s a corn maze, some fella cleared it out of old man McAndrew’s place after he passed away last year, I figured I could take you this afternoon after chores.” “A corn maze sounds fun” Cal said standing up from the table and walking over to grab himself a cold glass of water from the sink. “I’ll be sure to finish chores up real fast” Cal assured between gulps. Two hours later Cal was getting in his uncle’s truck. As they pulled out of the driveway and turned down the narrow dirt roads he noticed that the cornfields of both his uncles and their neighbors had decreased in height and volume since the previous years, this pattern continued for several miles until they reached Mr. McAndrew’s, Turning down his long winding road Cal could hardly believe his eyes at the sight of the fields; they were tall, taller then Cal had ever seen in his 17 years of corn farming, almost ten feet high, they were also packed so tightly together that he wondered how their roots even had room underground to grow. They pulled up to the entrance of the Maze, and Cal saw the few other trucks that he recognized to be his classmates were parked alongside a ticket stand, and an old worn down barn that had belonged to the late farmer. Nobody quite knew what happened to McAndrew, they knew he was old, (easily over 75) but one day he was out tilling the garden, and the next he was dead. The locals just dismissed it as a stroke or a heart-attack, but it seemed unlikely to Cal that someone so healthy just dies out of nowhere. As Cal got out of the truck and started walking toward the ticket stand his uncle hollered out the window of the rusted Chevy; “I’ll be at Greg’s if you need me, after you get done make sure to walk on over” he said, “You can help us split the wood for winter, we’re running out of time before the snow comes.” “Sure thing uncle” Cal replied, already running toward the ticket stand. As he neared the ticket stand the first thing he noticed was a rickety wooden sign sitting next to a pile of surprisingly well-drawn maps, the sign said; ‘Please remain on the path, and follow the map at all times.’ “That’s odd” he thought to himself, the maze didn’t look big enough on the outside to need a map, he took one anyway and looked over it, slightly confused as to some of the symbols drawn on it. His inquisitive thinking was interrupted however by a slap on the back from his friend Henry, “Well damn Cal,” he started, “I’m surprised that uncle of yours even let you come, did that tractor of yours finally kick the bucket?” “It’s kicked a couple buckets before, and it’ll kick ’em again” Cal retorted with a chuckle. The two continued to catch up while they walked toward a larger group of their classmates preparing to go into the maze. They figured the maze out semi-easily after about fifteen minutes, however some of the more competitive boys thought it would be interesting to see who could race through it the fastest, they would have one boy at the entrance, and the rest at the exit to verify the person had completed the maze without cheating. Henry went first, running through the shaded paths with ease and setting the bar high with a record of six minutes. The rest of the boys went through it with similar times. Afterward however, Cal had an idea. “I bet I can do it twice as fast” he taunted with a grin, the boys of course demanded he prove it, and as he approached the entrance to the maze a third time, he was smiling to himself thinking of how clever he would look if he could pull this off. His plan was simple; run straight through the walls of corn and come out the other side, (hopefully through the exit gate) the boys all watched in skeptical bemusement as he slowly walked through the entrance arch and rounded corner with his head held high, the moment he was out of view he shot off running through the stalks, aiming for where he figured the exit gate was. He was already celebrating his victory when he tripped on a small pile of stalks and tumbled forwards rolling through the corn and ending up in one of the wider paths of the maze. He sat up quickly not wanting to lose time, but just before he was about to go speeding through the maze again he caught something out of the corner of his eyes, he went over to it confused by the fact that he hadn’t seen it any of the previous times. It was a five and half foot red metal pole stuck in the ground in the center of the path with a wooden sign on it that said;

You failed to follow the instructions.

Welcome to æternum

Cal frowned, he had no idea what instructions the sign meant, in addition to this he was certain this sign hadn’t been here ten minutes ago when the boys were racing through the maze. He brushed it off though, he must have just missed it earlier in the excitement. He then went back to running in the direction he was before. Through the tall, thick corn stalks he dashed, anticipating the praise he would receive for making it out the maze so quickly. He could see an opening of light now, the exit was just ahead he shot forth from the stalks into the blinding Arizona sunlight. What he saw when his eyes adjusted almost stopped his heart.It was not, in fact, the exit to the maze, but instead a wide path between stalks of corn with a lone sign in the middle of it. It was undeniably the same sign he had just come across a minute ago. “I must have just gotten turned around” he thought, “If I hurry I can still beat the others times” He once again plunged through the thick corn running towards the exit. This time he was back at the sign in twenty seconds. His heart was pounding now as he decided to take a moment’s break and figure out what the hell was going on. He figured it had to be the corn, it was confusing him somehow and turning him around, this time he would take the path to get out, he had completely abandoned the idea of the race and was now desperately focused on leaving the maze. He pulled out the map he had gotten from the ticket stand and studied it, the paths on the map didn’t look anything like the ones he and his friends had gone through before, he tried to follow the paths on the map to the exit, but every time he was close he looked back at the map and seemed to be further than ever. He kept trying and trying, coordinating his steps with the maps twisting and changing lanes. But every time he looked back to the map he seemed to be in a different lane than he thought he was. After about ten minutes of sprinting down the winding paths he began to feel sick, he knew for a fact he had run through it quicker before, he should have been at the exit by now. As if to add to his growing anxiety the sun seemed to be setting, increasing his sense of urgency to flee from the maze. He stopped on the path, not wanting to keep going in circles for what felt like an eternity. He had to figure out a solution before dark, and running on the path was getting him nowhere fast. He glanced at the stalks beside him, deciding to try his original idea again, he jumped through the wall-like barrier of corn to a path on the other side. His hope was almost immediately crushed when he spotted the red sign in the middle, with those same tauntingly familiar words; “You failed to follow the directions. Welcome to æternum” Cal walked over to the sign and leaned against it, he was thirsty, tired and getting more and more anxious about his situation. As he watched the streams of light that were illuminating the dust in the air, he wondered if his friends had given up trying to find him in the maze by now. This feeling was chased by the eerie sensation that his friends weren’t even close to him, in fact he felt incredibly alone, not just like he was by himself, but he felt as if he was the only living thing in existence. This put Cal into a state of panic and he started frantically shouting for help, he gave this up after a minute or two though. Feeling as if he was screaming into space. Like he was stranded in a void, where even his own voice didn’t echo back to him, it just dissipated into the Arizona sunset sky. After a while he decided to walk again, not through the corn however, (He already knew where that would lead him) he followed the path for what seemed like hours and hours before he realized it still wasn’t dark yet, the sun was at the same position as it was when had started walking. A few moments later he rounded another corner that was nearly identical to the last one and spotting a well in the ground ahead his heart jumped with excitement. Sure enough he checked the map and there was indeed a little drawing of a well on one of the paths, he could use it as a reference point he thought to himself. Happy to see a change in the maze, and even more happy to have a chance to quench his thirst, he walked up to it and reached for the bucket sitting idly on the side of it. And just like that his sight shifted with a start, the mirage fading away and his eyes wearily taking in the all too familiar sight of the tall corn stalks. Freshly discouraged by his waking dream, he drudged on through the maze. Pretty soon he was too thirsty and exhausted to continue, with his last bit of energy he pushed through the wall of corn to his left and walked over to the sign. Cal sat down against it and looked up at the sky, that’s when he noticed for the first time that there were no mountains around him. The mountains he had grown up with, an always visible and comforting staple of Arizona, were now nowhere to be seen. Was he even in Arizona anymore? Why did he feel so alone? Was this even real? His brain became increasingly muddled and fatigued by questions until eventually he slumped his head back and drifted off to a slumber.

When he awoke it was dark. Looking up he saw the bright summer stars shining down on the tops of the corn. Each leaf glowing pale green under the full moon, each stalk swaying back and forth in the cool breeze with a kind of solemn grace. They whispered to one another tales of lost visitors, desperate young boys, and weary old men. The waves of corn knew his situation, they knew he wasn’t leaving. They had accepted his defeat long before he had. Cal stood up and turned around, fixing his eyes on the only thing other than corn he could see.It had changed, morphed somehow from that dreadful sentence into a single word. “Æternum” Cal slumped to the ground once more, arching his head up, and bellowing out from his heart a scream that pierced even the stars above him with shrill despair.

His scream continued to echo and dissipate into the field long after he had closed his mouth. Mocking him with his own voice.