RING WITHIN THE LABYRINTH

By William Lechber

The winter winds of some brisk yesterday blew through the winding walls of downtown, pushing each darkly clad stranger into another cold tomorrow. Theo’s night thus far had felt uncanny and rimmed with fog. It was time to go home. Every year when the loose leaves of autumn fell and filled all the dark corners of the city, Theodore never failed to think of all his old roads that led up to today. Walking into the head wind, he found himself lost in déjà vu. This was not an unwelcome feeling and always somehow brought out of him the most potent thoughts of nostalgia which usually led to spurts of fevered writing and long feelings to document all that ran away in the gray maze of his mind. Deciding to give in to the pull of his reminiscence, Theo dropped down onto a park bench, pulled out his worn, familiar pen and began to set his thoughts between the pages of his small, spiraling pad.

Lost thoughts, old words, and riddles in the reams poured out in his writing as if an elapsed memory had converged into new consciousness giving access to ripe fruits of inspiration. It was an odd happening. Yet every time this occurred, Theo treasured it. Previous episodes of the like left him with amateur epic poems and faux journal entries from lost heroes of history. He wanted to live as they did, but Theo found himself living in a modern cubicle world with more molehills than mountains. I want to see the great mountains…mountains, Theo thought.

“It’s closed here. You have to move on.” A voice broke out of the fog.

Theo stopped. He pulled his head up from under the impassioned spell. The security guard, who seemed to be the one who spoke, turned away to walk onward. What an unsettling sight, he thought. Actually, first he internally declared, I’m simply sitting here writing, not bothering anyone, and you have to interrupt to kick me out of a public park! Ridiculous. Then, Theo thought it a bit unnerving that the guard had no face. Or maybe it was more accurate to say, the guard’s face had turned to an obscuring angle so Theo could not make it out as he pulled his head up to look. It felt dreamlike; like the flash fleeting moment where the human shades of dreams turn away just as you look in their direction. Theo hated that dream.

He looked at his watch. 11:11. Theo also hated being late. Kate had told him to be home before midnight. She was one who would lose herself to worry and since their courtship was merely beginning, Theo strove to satisfy her whims, even ones he thought unnecessary.

Theodore shook off the taint of the faceless dream guard, made a quick wish and then turned upon his heels to leave. Deciding to exit through an unfamiliar path, he crossed over a small footbridge that led out of the main courtyard and continued to make his way home through the wooded park. These uncanny nights often called out to him for exploration. Even though it was late and he needed to get home, Theo invariably preferred to take a road home he had not traversed before. Regularly taking a different route, he would still make it home in time to satisfy Kate’s worry and feed his cat, Iris. Iris had been named so because of Kate’s displeasure with pet names longer than two syllables. He had wanted to call her something mythic, like Ariadne or Eleusis, but his newfound love felt those names to be cumbersome. Kate didn’t often take the long way around. The name Iris had been a way to meet in the middle. Noble, mythic and simple: Theo liked things of that lot. What he did not like was to disappoint his hungry cat. Iris liked her last meal at 11:30 sharp. Tonight she’d be disappointed.

He moved on, alone in his wandering. While travelling this untaken road Theo passed further into Falstaff Park, which was quite deserted. How eerie it is to wander through parks and playgrounds empty of their children’s play. Unfilled swings played only with the wind. A carousel lit yet abandoned behind closed hours. Vacant seats fixed next to vacant concrete chessboards. Theo wondered who won. The only activity in sight was the solitary gliding of an iceskater in the rec center rink that rimmed the edge of the park. Even that was silent and behind glass. Theo had fallen thorough the ice once…it felt like only yesterday. The emptiness of his evening had serenity about it. Light green leaves shimmered wet with fog and shined on the path that led deeper in. Orange light poured off the park lamps, swirled through the graceful mist and landed on Theo’s shoulders before he again passed beyond into shadow.

He thought this way would let him out on to Avalon St, which would quicken his homeward travel. Instead the park path bent and opened into a great garden. With blossoming interest Theo strode into the beautiful expanse of the unexpected flowery knoll. At one edge of the garden, he came upon a labyrinth symbol adorning the end of a small knee-high concrete wall that rounded the knoll. Well isn’t that curious? He recognized the symbol. He had come upon it before within the walls of an old coin shop. The shopkeeper had told him that labyrinths should never be confused with mazes. Mazes are things to get lost in, and labyrinths have but one path. This must be a sign. At the circular swirling marker, Theo chose to turn and follow the wall instead of exiting the way he was headed. At the other end of the foot-high wall was another end-capped labyrinth and upon it lay a charging cell phone.

How odd. Taking an extended look around, Theo slowed his breathing to attempt to hear if any one was about. He saw no one. He heard nothing. “Hello.” Theo said aloud. Light condensation landed on his ear and offered the only answer he’d get. “Hello…is anybody there!” The strange feeling of being watched swept over Theodore’s being. Why was this so familiar? Have I been here before? Curiously, Theo picked up the phone. He checked the contacts: none. The text messages: none. There was one photo of a man taking a picture into a mirror, but the operator’s face was out of frame. How long have I been out here? Theo checked the time on the phone. 12:34. Dammit, Kate is going to be so angry! Thinking he would rescue it from the trapping web of the lost and found, Theo pocketed the phone and hurried on his way.

As he came to his neighborhood the fog continued its swirling dance. Now it blew in thicker sheets than it had before obscuring the lines between buildings and blurring the ends of his regular road home. To Theo it seemed as if he’d walked much further than it normally would take to get back, and this worried him. Then the phone rang.

“Hello,” Theo answered hesitantly.

“Theo?” The voice that rang out from the other end sounded disturbingly familiar.

“Yes…who is this?” Theo asked in a cold tone.

“I don’t know if I’m able to tell you that, but I’m calling to help.”

“Help? Who is this?” When no answer came Theo continued on insistently, “I know your voice; it sounds like my brother’s God rest his soul–Who are you and how did you know to reach me on this? This isn’t even my phone.” Theo asked as his stomach filled with icy apprehension. His night had already held enough odd ends to spook his imaginative mind. He was not in a place for practical joking. He wanted answers.

“Listen, Theodore! Time is short, and it bends differently here, so be quiet and listen. I do not know how long this line will hold. I do not know if I can reveal who I am. That may alter things. I’m not really sure how things work here. I do know that you must listen. You have travelled into the gray space. I can try to guide you out, but that may not be possible anymore.”

“Are you messing with me? Is this some kind of joke?”

“No.”

“Hey! I’m already a bit uneasy. I’ve had a long day. I can’t see twenty feet in front of me because of this damn fog, and now you are jerking with me! Who is this? Mike from work?! I swear if you are…”

“Theo, it’s me! I mean, it’s you.” Theo’s pupils dilated in disbelief and adrenaline. Everything around seemed to slow down. The wind grew unheard. Time ticked a slower tock. Beneath his feet, Theo felt a ripple roll up from under him. His eyes swung round to take in a scene unchanged, but undeniably different. The voice continued, “You are talking to you, yourself, but a ‘you’ from a space far beyond the one you are in now. I know that’s strange and outside of the realm of possibility, but I am outside your realm and I promise you it’s true.”

“You aren’t… fooling me,” Theo said halfheartedly and unconvinced. “I don’t believe you.”

“Just try!” The voice demanded in a way that made Theodore think of his father.

“Ok, if you are me and here to help, why don’t you come out from whatever space you are in and get me home?”

“We cannot meet, but we can communicate through these fog conduits, if the circumstances align. And in this instance, I ensured that they would. Sometimes meeting in these spaces causes a rift…too many rifts may shake the fabric. The last time that happened there were no yesterdays.”

A long pause separated the two voices that were one. The white noise of the wind returned. Theo began again, “You are really freaking me out because you sound the way I sound when I tell the truth. What the hell do you mean fog conduits?”

“Remain calm, Teddy. What you hold is not a phone. It may look that way to you because I’ve turned it to appear so. Within the Pitch-Mist communication is unkind. There will come a time, if you make it out, when you will make a call, as I have now, to help another Theo. You will know then when to place the talking tether.”

“I don’t even know if you are speaking English! I hear your words but I don’t understand. And I don’t want you to tell me to calm down! What the hell is going on? How did I even get here if I’m not in my neighborhood?”

“I don’t fully understand the winding ways of the new world we’ve entered, yet I know this: there are beings, entities that defy the way life is perceived on Earth. One such entity is the PitchMist. To the untrained eye these travelling doorways go unseen as shadow clouds passing over open water. They move and breathe across interspaces and if they set down, a temporary bridge extends. The details are unimportant now. What is important is that you passed through a door that shouldn’t have been opened to you, and you cannot go back. This kind of door only opens in one direction. I don’t know why but we passed through. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry! For what? What do you mean, you’re sorry! No, no, no…

“Listen, Ted, you have to hold it together. I’ve been telling you this for the last hour, you have to remain calm. Things are spinning away, I can feel it. I may lose you soon. But remember this; the paths in here can fold and wind on forever. If you get lost in the fog, and you will, do not circle in, just stop. This is very important. Follow the string. You will find your way with help…but you must w…and definitely don’t…re you ther…the beas…”

The voice that was as familiar as the one inside his head cracked and faded until the line clicked and then drew silent. Theo swallowed shallow hurried breaths, and felt frozen in his fear. All of his senses sharpened in the scared rush. He looked upon the surrounding serpentine swirl with utmost clarity and yet could not see a fathom in front of him. The mist was thicker now. He breathed in the damp taste of it. As it gathered across his tongue he pulled back in his mind and was reminded. He thought that no water ever tasted like the well he drank from as a child. That cold mountain water-cradle held a quench that tasted like a cool morning on the threshold of fall. The hovering moisture felt that way as he licked it away from his lips, fertile yet edging decay. The cement underfoot seemed to be fractured and uneven It extended into the fog then appeared to break apart all together and continue on into gray dirt. How long had this road not been kept? The sound of his light thudding footfalls within the white silence of the wind reminded him how solitary his journey had grown. Yet, Theo didn’t feel alone. His watch read 12:21. It was later than it ought to be. Theo lit a cigarette and tried to take a second to catch his racing thoughts. The smoke blew away from him quicker than the wind at his back would normally carry it. This troubled him further.

“How would I know I was crossing? Would I make it home in time? When will I get home?”

Theo asked aloud and the surrounding gray fog said nothing back.

His words bent around his tongue in a way that was new. The words came out with the same meaning and yet their sound had turned inward, then circled towards a noise unnamed to the his ears. Now Theodore grew truly afraid. The edges of his hand that held the cigarette appeared to be flowing into the darkness the way of the smoke.

Too fast. Nothing would come back from the great pull that Theo stood upon the edge of.

Or so he thought. Something moved in the darkness beyond. It felt as if some vast force had stood up. His wits were fraying. Tired of being swept along in uncontrollable vast and strange current, Theo knew he needed to do something. The phone flashed back into his hand. He redialed the only number listed, the one that had called him. At the end of three rings she answered.

“Hello.”

“This cannot be…” his voice dropped off.

“Theo?”

“Kate... you sound so far away.”

“What do you want? Why would you call me now? It’s been ages.”

What she said hit him like a gale force wall of wind. It bowled him over, and blew away any strings he thought he held to the world he knew. He could not form words.

With drained speech that seethed Kate continued, “I can’t believe you would call after disappearing the way you did. Where have you been?

“I got lost,” Theo said in a broken tone.

“I’m sure you did. You always were. Theo…I can’t do this… You are too late. Not that it really matters but did you find, Iris?”

“No.”

“Well, I was worried when she left the night you didn’t come home. Not that I care anymore. It’s 3 a.m. for Christ’s sake. I gotta go. Happy trails, you monster, I hope you found what you were looking for.” She then hung up forever. He felt closer to the emptiness around him. With the weight of his world vanishing, Theo stumbled into a seat on the ground.

Do not circle in, just stop…do not circle in, just stop. These are the words I said. He was unaware of how long he remained there. It seemed a long string of hours. Of nothing but grey rolling ground all around, and the circling skies rounded in fog. Another ripple shifted underneath him. He looked into the direction of the pulling winds and thought that maybe that was where he was supposed to go. Theo felt something approach.

Iris appeared with a quick flick of her tail. Then she spoke, “That way lays the maze and the void. Do not journey there unless you wish to become more lost.”

By now Theo was beyond any argumentation. When he spoke his level voice said, “Iris, I wanted for so long to be among the great told tales, but now I just want to go home. Can you help me get back home?”

Iris spun a small circle and revealed a ball of string that pulsed in all the spectral colors of light. With distinction, Iris sent the orb spinning away from the wind. She turned her knowing eyes from the vanished spheric string and let them rest with warmth on Theo.

“That’s just it. I have. We are among the great mountains now. You are home.”