8 An Absolute Bearing

I’m walking in a labyrinth. It seems to be an easy one, at least when seen from the distance. However, when I step inside it, everything I thought becomes something else.

Some things in the labyrinth change only a little. It’s the color of the leaves of the labyrinth walls – a shade lighter than what I saw from a distance. The path is not clear but covered with twigs and roots that sometimes create small obstacles for me to jump over. These little details were almost impossible to see from a far, requiring a closer inspection.

But some things change almost entirely. The labyrinth, that from a distance seemed so easy to solve and to have a simple go-through route, becomes full of turns and dead ends. Every corner I turn to, I hit a wall.

I decide to leave small straps of clothing in every corner to be sure not to walk to that same dead-end again.

But the dead-ends just keep on coming. I turn to the right, aiming East, but a dead-end meets me coldly, telling me to turn back. I turn North, remembering that the way out was in the northern parts of the labyrinth. But North meets me with a daunting silence. I dare not to ask anything and simply turn back.

I try South. Maybe the exact opposite of what I thought to be right will actually be right? For a moment, everything seems promising but then even South leaves me hanging.

I sigh in desperation. At the same time, I feel a tiny twinge of panic inside my chest.

Pausing to think:

I haven’t tried West yet. But what if even that won’t lead me out from the labyrinth? Of course, I still have a few alternatives such as northeast or southwest but as I cross off the alternatives from the list, my nervousness grows.

I’m almost afraid to try out every point of a compass because if I do and I’m still stuck – will I have to stay here forever?

And then the questions come:

How did I even end up here, was it my own choice, was I asked if I wanted to try out the labyrinth?

Every wall I hit, every dead-end I encounter raises a new question. One of the most dangerous questions being:

Did the designer of this labyrinth even design a way out?