Chapter Twenty Two

     Officer Schneider called his friend who was a mountain climber. Calling the search and rescue team was fruitless since they were already in the corn field. There was already a search and they believed that the children were not there.

     Where else would they go in the cold weather without a vehicle? It was possible that they went to seek help. The events that took place were too strange to believe that the children may have vanished in a corn maze. It was too strange to believe anyway.

     Troy peered into the entrance of the maze. He was puzzled why he was there. It was just a corn maze.

     “Why do I need my climbing equipment again?” Troy asked.

     “So, we don’t lose you,” said Schneider.

     “Huh?” Troy felt confused.

     “People have been going into this maze and not coming out,” Schneider said. “You’re looking for a group of teens and an officer.”

     Troy looked at the maze, “It’s still a little weird, but okay.” Troy began to walk into the maze with a rope attached.

     “If it gets overwhelming, please come back,” Schneider said.

     Troy shrugged, “Okay.”

     As he walked, it became cooler. The wind picked up and the sky darkened. He slowed down. It looks like there was a hole in the ground had him. He moved closer to investigate. There was a hole in the ground.

     “Hey, Schneider, I think I found where everyone is disappearing too,” Troy hollered.

     There was no response. He called out Schneider’s name again and nobody responded. He didn’t even hear anyone calling for help. Troy shined his flashlight down the hole.

     The hole appeared to be never-ending. Maybe people were falling in. He imagined people coming to corn maze for Halloween and falling into the hole.

     He felt someone tugging on the rope. Troy looked behind him. It was still bright and warm where he entered. He walked back and met Schneider.

     “At least we know we can still get out,” Schneider said.

     “Did you hear what I said?” Troy asked.

     Schneider looked confused, “What? What do you mean?”

     “I was hollering at you that I found a hole,” Troy said. “You didn’t hear me?”

     “No,” Schneider said. “I thought I lost you. The rope felt like it wasn’t holding onto anything. I waited for maybe an hour and the rope began to move. So, I pulled on it and it a few times and you came back.”

     “You didn’t come to see if I was okay?” Troy asked.

     “I can’t go in because I would have vanished,” he told him. “We discussed this already.”

     Troy grumbled. “This is just nutty. So, we are not going back in right?”

     Schneider thought for a moment, “No, we have to come up with some other idea. If we’re losing communication, we need to think of something else.”