There’s a girl waiting for the boy at the mouth of the maze. She’s naked, covered in bruises. Her lip’s split open, the wound oozing blood down her chin. She doesn’t say anything. She takes the boy by the hand and leads him through a dark, impenetrable forest. He thinks many times that the girl has lost her way and lured him into the woods in order to hurt him. Soon, the trees thin out, though, and the dark becomes less ominous. Eventually, the loamy, springy moss beneath their feet turns to sand. The girl leads the boy out of the forest and onto a pristine, beautiful beach. They’re alone. In
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