Chapter VIII: The Memory

The man woke up and opened his eyes. The sight that greeted him was different than any other that he had seen. "I'm alive?" He said slowly. The place was filled with greenery and tall trees with abundant and vibrant colored leaves.

After seeing all that, he couldn't help but notice that something soft was behind his head. As soon as he got his full conscience back, he looked around his right and saw the expressionless maid looking at the tress.

He was lying on her lap under a big tree. He smiled brightly as wide as he could. "I thought that was the end. I'm glad I followed what I wanted." Since he was already feeling fine, he stood up and said, "Thank you." With a big smile.

Without many contexts of where they are, the maid began to stand up and walked. He followed her just like always. As they were walking in the tree-filled place, like a plane with a lot of trees following a path, he couldn't help to notice that the trees here are so much more vivid compared to the ones back at home. It felt that it was really alive and well.

They kept walking and finally ahead of their path, he saw a really big tree in the middle of the path. Although it looks as bright and full of color, it was way different than the other ones. As they got closer, he began to notice the big difference between this tree from the other ones. The maid stopped just below the big tree.

He looked closely at the leaves of the trees and to his surprise, it was filled with scenes after scenes of life. People, places, animals, machines, buildings, food, and anything else that a person can experience in a lifetime.

In one of the leaves, he then saw his parents when he was still young. His parents looked a bit young. He couldn't believe what he saw and cried. "Are these my memories?" He asked the maid. The maid didn't say a word. Although he knew that it was his, he wanted to confirm it.

He looked at more of the leaves and saw more and more of his memories. As he looked away at the big tree, he saw that the other trees also began to change, the leaves became brighter in different vibrant colors, replaying different memories, all of which are his.

He runs towards the other trees while still crying. He saw his family, the struggles he had, his best friend, the landlord, and his beloved sister.

After reconciling with everything he could see, he walked back towards the maid and sat under the big tree. As he sat down, a leaf fell from the big tree, and slowly, instead of it just touching the ground, it disintegrated from thin air.

With that he asked the maid again, "I'm dead, right? I was already dead the moment I got here. I had my speculations since the beginning, to be honest. It's just that, I never really wanted to believe it at first. Even though every clue was hinted at since the beginning. From the house to the apartment I was already sure at that point." He laughed as he looked at the bright sky.

"I do not know if I would be happy or not. I didn't even say goodbye one last time. I also didn't get to see how I would fill this void in my life. But now, maybe I can slowly understand since I know more. But, this is too many emotions piling up on me all at once. I hope they are doing okay." He said as he let out a big sigh.

"Growing up as an average kid then I strived hard in college only to end up in also having an average job. I continued living even though, in the first place, I didn't know where I was going." He said with disappointment. He then pondered on the thought of where he was going.

"Going? Where am I really going anyway? What is this place? I do not even know this place. If I add up all the things that had happened up to now, I can guess that this place might be some kind of a bridge for dead people. Bridge towards something greater. A place that we are aiming to get to in this labyrinth. Am I right?" He said as he looked towards the maid. Just like usual, she responded with silence and an expressionless face.

Since he knew that his time in that place will also come to an end, he said to the maid, "Can we rest here for a while? Maybe a couple of days. I do not know when this journey will end. It might end in the next place we visit and I'm sure that I will regret not spending more time here. Especially in this place. A place that is full of my memories."

Although there was no response like always, he took that as a yes. Since he knows he is the visitor of that labyrinth. The person to which the labyrinth caters to. The person who is being guided to the journey's cessation. A journey that is solely for him.

The two of them spent days and days in that place. Not like the usual day in the other places they went to, that would end right after an event related to him would take place. He told a lot of stories about his life with the maid while touring every tree in the vicinity. The maid seemed to have followed his request to stay there for quite a while.

Some days, he would tell more stories about other events and people that he knows. He would event sing songs and compose poems to pass time.

Days passed by and he began to see something changed right in front of his eyes while resting on the big tree. A small tree suddenly dropped all its leaves and it all disintegrated away. He was shocked to see that as he felt a spike of pain in his head. Small leaves falling before weren't even a noticeable issue but this time that amount of leaves were. The maid went close to him and touched him and the pain went away.

The moment he saw the falling leaf from the big tree disintegrate back from the first time they came there he already knew that he had limited time in that place in the beginning. He did not know whether it was okay to let a lot fall or if it's not.

Even with such a risk, he wanted to stay there. He wanted to experience more about this place. This place distracted him away from finding his purpose back when he was alive.

The next day came and another tree lost all of its leaves. His head ached as hard as before but the maid made it better once again. They continued to stay in that place until the very last.

As the days passed by, more and more trees lost their leaves. The pain from his head grew even stronger until a day came when the last small tree that they can see lost all its leaves. It was a sign. A sign that they should go.

After the maid healed him, which took longer than before, he stood up from where he was seated. "I guess it is time to go. It was surely fun here. I do not know how long this big tree will last until we get to the end of the journey but since you accompanied me here until the last day, I guess this was the last place before it all ends." He said as he smiled at the maid.

The maid began to walk again in a different path. He followed her just like before.

As they got further from the big tree, the scenery came back to normal. The very first appearance of the labyrinth was also the very last. It was as if he just came back from the very beginning seeing the cemented-wooden walls.

As they were walking, he began to remember the long and emotional journey that he had in this place. This place truly is quite a mystery. He still didn't know whether it was a good thing for him to die or not but at least he got to bring out the heavy burden that had been sitting in his chest his whole life.

Living for the sake of living, trying to please the people that need pleasing, making sure to achieve something in life. In that moment and in this place, nothing even mattered anymore. It was all a past memory that will surely be forgotten, he thought. So for now, at least in this place, he had nearly no regrets.

After walking for a couple of hours, they finally arrived. It looked like the path ends here. In order to move to the next path, there was a very old bridge that they could take that connects the two places. It looks like it wasn't old because of the time that it was there but it was old for the sake that it should be.

The maid stopped near the start of the old bridge and looked at him. She held her hand as if telling that the two of them would cross it together. He was surely happy since he knew that he was not that brave enough to do so. Also, this was their last time together so he wanted to enjoy the moment.

He grabbed the hand of the maid and the maid led the way by going in first. As he was pulled by the hand, he tried to move faster to pace himself with the maid.

Although it didn't seem to look far at first, the bridge was very long and it extended to cover the whole cliff that separated the two places. After a couple of minutes of slow walking on the bridge, they finally arrived at the other side.

He sat on a big rock near the bridge and said that, "Why don't we stay here for a while." Out of desperation for more time, he wanted to delay it a bit longer. The maid went close to him and sat on the same big rock.

He looked around and saw why this was the last place of the labyrinth. There were no paths that extend or led to this other than that old bridge. He thought that the bridge was supposed to be somewhat of a struggle to overcome but maybe because he trusts the maid so much that they crossed it with a breeze.

After a while, the maid stood up and headed near a wall of the labyrinth. "This is the end then. I wish I could've had more time but I think this is enough." He said as he also stood up.

The maid opened her palm and raised her arm from bottom to the top. A white void-like space was created. The moment he saw this, he knew that it really is the end.

"You brought me back to my childhood. You taught me, no, forced me to accept that I will lose everything. You made me contemplate on my current state of living. You made me realize that I should grasp the things that I want. That I should stay in the path that I choose to have no regrets. And lastly, you showed me my whole life of memories and made me feel that my life was worth it. Thank you. I do hope that we will meet again." He said with a bittersweet smile.

It looked like he was supposed to enter the white void so he began to step in slowly but before he could move forward, the maid grabbed him by the hand. "Why, is this not the end of the journey? Are there more things that I should do?" He asked the maid expecting no answer in return.

She holds him off for a very long while without him knowing what to do. After a moment, it hit him. A sudden urge of pain struck his head once more. It was as painful as the one he last took back in the white straight path.

It was so painful that he fell to his knees asking, "What did you do?" in a very stuttering tone. He fell to the ground crouching again with both his hands holding his head. He screamed very loudly for the pain was so unbearable that just like before, he again lost consciousness.