Chapter VII: The Road

The two walked again for hours and hours and had no sign of reaching a close destination ahead. It felt like the first time that they had walked for hours to reach the house but this time, it was just a white straight path. Nothing to see for a long distance, just the sight of the white path and the high walls of the labyrinth.

"I know I seem to ask this ever so often but are we really in the right direction? We aren't going anywhere and is it just me or is the path not changing at all. It feels that we are walking in the same path for hours or maybe even days now." He moaned.

After saying that, he looked at the bright sky and it blinded his eyes so he averted his eyes away from it. It felt that the light was stronger than usual. At that moment, he wanted to get close to the maid because he couldn't see properly for a small period of time.

He was way back behind the maid so he paced faster but when he saw ahead, the maid was nowhere to be found. He was shocked but didn't want to panic. He knew that there is only one path to take anyway and all he needed to do was to not change his direction and he should meet up with the maid in no time.

He walked the white straight path not taking a break. A lot of time had passed and he felt that he had been walking for a day and yet no progress was happening. All that he is thinking is that he will make it through this path and meet up with her at some point.

He continued to walk in the straight path which felt like days have passed but he didn't stop. He kept thinking that he will meet up with her at some point. He wasn't sure but he was hoping to the point that he is making himself believe that it is.

At some point, while walking for days, he stumbled on his own feet. He fell to the ground face flat. He looked ahead and nothing changed. It was still a clear straight path. He had hoped that it did change, even for a bit. He hoped that he was somewhat close, even if he is not.

He laid on his back and wanted to lie down. After a couple of days walking, surely he felt numb. He didn't feel fatigue more tiredness physically but his mind wanted to rest and shut down from everything. The very moment he tried to close his eyes shut for a long time he felt that the light from the eyelids disappeared.

It was like magic that the sky suddenly turned into a carpet of stars yet again. He didn't really pay attention to the details of this labyrinth on why it suddenly changes the way it does but surely it is connected to the person in that current place.

He looked at the bright night sky and began to think that a possibility that he won't see her again will surely come. Yet he cannot accept that it was in such a time in such a place. A white straight path with no end.

He thought that he might also end up stranded in that place. He didn't know where to go and his only lead was to go straight, to where the path would lead him. "I at least wanted to say a proper goodbye." He muttered.

He also began to think about the stuff they went through together. The house where she cooked him delicious food. The mist where she firmly stayed by his side and watched over him until he woke up.

The apartment where he got to open up his most current self and the most lingering question he had in life. He wished he also could've known more about her in that short time. He didn't even know where she came from and yet he was very comfortable being with her.

After recalling a lot of stuff, he fell asleep.

After a while, the night sky suddenly changed into a bright sky and woke him up. He woke up feeling a little bit better but still disappointed that he was still stuck in that white straight path. He stood up and continued his way towards it.

Again, he walked for hours and hours but nothing came to it. The agonizing hours became days and all he could remember is the possibility of everything he didn't yet want to happen. But even though he knows about it, he kept his hopes up and moved forward, day by day.

After more agonizing days have passed with him feeling mentally drained, even more, he began to hallucinate. "One path but why are there paths on my side? So many paths."

For the first time in his journey in the white straight path, he went off course.

He slowly moved to the side of a wall and hit it. After hitting the wall, he suddenly felt a striking pain in his head. Just like before, it was the same feeling. It had not happened much lately but when it did, the maid was always by his side to make him feel better. Right now that the maid is not with him, he was agonizing in extreme pain. "Please, stop! Why now! Argh!"

He kneeled over and crouched sideways on the floor. Both his hands were covering his head as if he can ease it by holding it himself. Barely seeing anything, he looked forward in hopes that the maid is nearby but no matter how much he had hoped for, she was nowhere to be found.

Looking ahead while holding his head on the floor, his hallucinations started to become real. New open paths are opening on the sides of the white straight path. It formed an infinite intersection of paths in which the only different path was the white straight path.

In hopes for something to change, he slowly crawled to a path that opened on the sides and to his surprise, the more that he got deeper into the path, his headache slowly began to go away.

He then realized that if he just took this path, everything will be okay and that he will feel better. Although he thought of that, he remembered that the maid was leading him on the straight path all this time.

There was no guarantee in any paths that he takes would lead him to her but he only has one body and he needs to choose. A path in which he will feel better or a path in which the maid, who guided him all this time, took and led him to it.

He didn't know what to choose because he also really want the pain to go away. Although that was what he wanted, he cannot get his mind out of the path that the maid led him into. He knew it was the right path and it should always be the right path.

He also said before that he would trust her no matter what. Even though he always moaned about walking for too long, he always believed in her. He knew that the pain in his head is strikingly painful but the right call was to move on in the white straight path. All thinking made his headache worsen even though he was on the side path and yet, he began to head back. He began to move back towards the white straight path.

He knows very well that this path might as well be endless but he still hopes that he would reach the end of it. He walked down back the white straight path. The more that he moved forward, the stronger the pain gets.

At some point in walking, he felt that he might as well die from the excruciating pain that he is feeling and yet he kept his mind firm and continued.

The pain worsens and worsens to a point that he wanted to chop his head for it felt like exploding. It was so painful that he began to go back kneeling and crawling on the floor.

Holding his head with the other hand while slowly grasping and moving forward with the other. The pain was so strong that his eyes cannot function properly and he began to lose sight of everything in front of him.

All he knows at that point is that he must keep moving forward. He kept moving forward and forward. He screamed and screamed and screamed until he lost his breath. He was left with a moment of silence where he couldn't express the pain and just blindly kept moving forward.

The sight of the maid in his mind kept him moving. The pain was so worse at some point that he is barely conscious. It was like his body is moving and acting on its own. But no matter how much he struggled, he couldn't seem to reach the end.

With all his efforts, he passed out from the excruciating pain in his head. Even the unconscious movement of his body didn't even move a finger. He was left lying on the floor of the white straight path.

Just before becoming unconscious, he thought for a second that maybe no matter how much he hoped for it, it will not come true. And that even this was in vain. Yet even if that was in his mind, his body moved and continued to move. He didn't want to accept that it will end up like this. In the end, however, he didn't make it anywhere near the endless white straight path.