Lucas had driven to the next town over, to Addison, and parked in front of Albion Family’s Corn Maze and Hayrides. For a Monday night, there were a lot of people. Families stood in line for hayrides or headed into the corn mazes. The farm even had an area where someone could buy pumpkins, and children wandered through the rows of them, trying to find the perfect one. I couldn’t help but smile.
This wasn’t me relenting to the spirit of Halloween. I refused.
Lucas’s boots crunched over the stones in the parking lot as he rounded the car, eyes darting between Donnie and me. “Who’s ready to hang with the scarecrows?”
“You mean get eaten by scarecrows?” Donnie’s eyes widened. “I’ve seen that horror movie.”
I gave him a serious look. “I’m definitely tripping you to live.”
“I’ll get a map in case we get lost,” Lucas said, patting Donnie’s shoulder as he brushed past. “No scarecrow eating going on in our group.”
Donnie’s arm stiffened as I looped mine through it, tugging him after Lucas. “You’re going to trip him first, right?” Donnie asked me, voice lowered.
I watched Lucas continue toward the map booth, his stride even and relaxed. He walked several paces ahead of us, almost as if he’d come to the corn maze alone. “Oh, totally. I mean, the ex always goes first. Never the quirky supporting character.”
“Hey, I’m only a supporting character?”
I snorted, tossing my hair back in a dramatic fashion. “Well, you’re not the star.”
Donnie hip-checked me, but since I was still latched onto his arm, we both stumbled together.
“Besides, Lucas is the one who’s supposed to be scared of horror movies,” I told him. “What’s up with you being afraid of scarecrows?”
“Uh, have you seen that movie where the scarecrow eats people? And eats the one kid’s eyes?” Donnie shuddered, whether from the cold or from the idea of getting his eyes eaten, I wasn’t sure. “It scarred me for life.”
“Maybe if we find a scarecrow, you can take a picture with it. Get over your fear. Before it eats you, I mean.”
He glared at me. “Not helpful.” Despite his serious tone, he didn’t let go of my arm. He puffed out a breath, which clouded in the air. “It’s cold tonight. I wonder how cold it’s going to be on Saturday.”
“Trying to plan out your Boo-Bash costume?” I couldn’t remember if he’d ever decided what he planned on going as.
“Of course.”
Lucas glanced back at us as he stepped up to the booth, hands in his jacket’s pockets. One dark eyebrow arched. “Are you guys coming?”
I hadn’t been to a corn maze in years. It’d been eighth grade, and I’d gone with Mom and Dad. We definitely hadn’t come here, because none of this looked familiar, but whichever corn maze we’d gone to sucked. The corn hadn’t grown tall, and if Dad had stood on his tiptoes, he could’ve seen through the wisps of the corn to the exit. He’d let me work my way through it, of course, and hadn’t cheated, but we’d ended up finishing in a matter of minutes.
I’d been bummed by how lame it’d been, but Mom—ever and always the optimist—had said the time we’d spent together made it worth it.
Yeah…looking back, I’d definitely agree.
“Welcome to Albion Family Farms,” the girl at the booth said as we approached, her smile blinding in the dark. She looked about our age, soft eyes glancing between all of us. “Are you here for the corn maze or hayride?”
“The maze,” Lucas answered politely.
“For the three of you, that’ll be fifteen dollars.” She popped open the metal box in front of her. “We have an easy, medium, and hard course—they’re all marked at the entrance.”
After Lucas passed over three bills, we made our way over to the maze entrances, and I gave him a cool look. “You didn’t say this would cost money. I would’ve brought some.”
“We talked you into doing this, Bee. That would’ve been lame if I expected you to pay.”
“I wouldn’t have minded.”
Donnie turned the map over in his hands. He’d swiped it up as we passed the booth, but hadn’t opened it yet. “Are we doing the easy course?”
I drew my arm from him, rubbing my hands together in anticipation. “Psh, easy? You can. I, for one, am going all in.”
Lucas’s expression didn’t change, but Donnie’s lips pulled downward. Even more so at my next suggestion.
“And I say we should go without a map,” I went on, glancing at the paper Donnie clutched like a lifeline. “Have some fun with it. Get lost and have a whole search party try to find us.”
“That does sound like a fun time,” Lucas said with an eye roll, but as he slipped his hands into his pockets, he had a hint of a smile.
Donnie shot us both a glare. “I disagree. If we’re going the hard way, we’re taking a map.”
Lucas glanced up at the sky. “Whatever we’re doing, let’s go before we lose our daylight.”
He was right. Sunlight was disappearing fast. The sunset stopped looking orangey-yellow and now clung to a purply-blue color. All the colors blended like a mix of paints, speckled with stars trying to prematurely poke their way through. Nights came early now that fall was in full swing, along with chilly breezes. I huddled deeper into my jacket, flipping up the collar as high as it would go, wishing I’d brought along something warmer.
“What made you think of a corn maze for a Halloween festivity?” I asked the boys as we walked through the maze arch, reading the sign: WARNING: Hard course ahead. Enter at your own risk. Dramatic much? “I never would’ve thought of this.”
“It’s a classic fall activity,” Lucas said, glancing over his shoulder in my direction. “This was my idea, by the way. We had two ideas each.”
“Scary movies were my idea,” Donnie added. “But the next two are top secret.”
Top secret. Yeah, I’d have bet money on the fact that pumpkin carving had made the list, but I wasn’t sure who would’ve picked it. Probably Donnie.
The corn shifted as the October breeze cut across the tops, the husks rustling together noisily. Run-down stalks crushed against the ground, and we walked on top of them, finding our way through. It almost looked like a horror movie, with the darkening sky and the crackling sound. The only difference, though, was the fact that I could still hear laughter from other groups of people wandering through the mazes, even children’s giggles.
We walked in relative silence. Here and there we’d discuss which way to turn, but otherwise, only the sound the crunching of cornstalks under our shoes kept us company. After a while, Lucas walked a pace or two ahead of Donnie and me, the aisle not wide enough for the three of us to walk side by side.
Stiffness clung to Lucas’s shoulders, pulling his jacket taut.
If Donnie noticed something off in the air, he didn’t say anything. Then again, this must’ve seemed like the new normal. Totally opposite of how things used to be. We were always talking, always laughing. Now there was silence.
To make matters worse, it started to rain.