The Maze The Lost Labyrinth - By Jason Brannon Page 0,23

villain screamed at me, but thankfully all was quiet. I couldn’t hear any of the things he was saying to me, but I suspected that they were nasty and filled with curses. He unsheathed the club from his belt and hammered unmercifully at the glass in an attempt to get to me. I backed away carefully, not sure what the rules were in a place like this. It wouldn’t have surprised me if Barabbas stepped right through the mirror and tried to bash my head in.

Like everything else in this cryptic place, I knew there was something special to be learned here. The only question was what?

“Barabbas.” I mulled the man’s name over. “Why are you so significant?”

The criminal screamed at me, but all I heard was silence. His face was flushed with anger and frustration. Fortunately, the mirror kept the man at bay. Midnight barked at the murderer and bared his teeth, eager to take a bite of the man who had avoided crucifixion at Christ‘s expense.

Then he turned away from the mirror and barked at me.

“Easy boy.” I held my hands out in front of me. Midnight growled and showed me his teeth. The dog’s eyes were filled with fear and anger, although I had done nothing to provoke him.

I held my hands up in a calming gesture that was meant to be as harmless as possible. Midnight barked at me with a machine-gun rapidity that echoed off of the labyrinth walls. He seemed like a different animal than before. This wasn’t the same dog that had affectionately licked my hand after eating blueberry jelly from that glass jar. What was wrong with him?

“It’s ok, boy.” I eased forward, hoping for a chance to soothe him and show him I meant no harm. “Easy, Midnight. Easy.”

Midnight saw something in me he didn‘t like. The moment I got close enough, he leapt at me and sank his teeth into my hand, drawing blood. I recoiled and held my injury close to me. I backed away from the dog cautiously, unwilling to take my eyes off of him for one second. When I had put a few steps between us, I glanced at my hand and saw that his teeth had torn a hunk of flesh out of my palm. Blood dripped from the wound erratically, pattering on the stone floor like scarlet rain.

I peered over my shoulder to see where Barabbas had gotten off to and I was alarmed to see that he was gone. I looked around frantically, fully expecting to see him rush out of the shadows with his club held high to crush my skull with a killing blow, but he had disappeared. It was only as I looked behind me that I saw him in the closest mirror. He, too clutched an injured hand.

I held my hand up in front of the mirror and watched the blood spill. Barabbas did likewise. The sight was enough to send Midnight into a new frenzy, and given what had happened only moments before, I wasn’t sure if I needed to be more frightened of the Roman criminal or of the dog. So far, Midnight was the only one who had drawn blood.

I made a few other small movements and watched as Barabbas mimicked me. I wondered if maybe it was the other way around. Maybe I was mimicking Barabbas. Midnight growled at me again, low and menacing, promising violence from some place deep in the back of his throat.

For some reason, the forces that controlled this maze compared me with one of the most notorious criminals in history. I didn’t understand it. I hadn’t murdered anybody. I hadn’t been brought up on charges and later pardoned so that the Son of God could be killed instead. I was nothing like the man in that mirror.

And yet for every move I made, Barabbas repeated it.

I was starting to understand that everything in this maze was here for a purpose. The jars of pickled organs had been there to point out the flaws I was unwilling to admit. The dinner table with all the Polaroids had been displayed specifically to show me in all my sinful glory. And now this. What could it mean?

I thought about what Barabbas represented. He was the one who had gotten away with his crimes while someone else paid the price. He was the one who walked free so Christ could be crucified in his place. Was I just like Barabbas?

Amy and Peter were paying