I winced as I felt my head throbbing in pain as I forced my eyes open. I squinted, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the fluorescent lights glowing overhead. I groaned as I pushed myself off the ground, stumbling around the small, plain windowless room. I threw myself onto the locked steel door, blinking hard at the prison like room that seemed to be spinning. "Locked," I grimaced, knocking my shoulder into the door a few more times to no avail. I pulled away from the door and made my way around the room, running my fingers along the strangely familiar cement blocks of the walls. "Somewhere here…" I muttered, finding myself looking for a bump in the wall without knowing why.

After feeling around, my fingertips felt a hard ridge in the middle of the smooth surface, and I found an edge to pull open and a door popped open. I crouched in amazement and peered into the slot, speechless at the key I pulled out. "How did I know?..." I stared at the key, wondering why I felt like I knew where the key would be. Shaking the thoughts from my mind, I slid the key into the lock and heard it click before the door swung open.

I stepped outside, shielding my eyes from the shining sun. As my gaze fell on the hedge maze before me, I felt myself hit with the memories of being in this place before. Standing here before the maze, running in, never making it out. The realization made me stumble back, knocking the breath out of me. I've been here before. My head snapped to the right when I heard the sound of footsteps approaching, and saw a man around my age approaching me cautiously, his hands held up and his face welcoming. I tripped backwards, catching myself on the door as he shuffled towards me.

"Hey, it's fine, you're fine," he muttered, trying to comfort me with his words. "No, no, no," I gasped, repeating it to myself as I turned and ran into the maze. Everything passed by me in a blur, and I turned instinctively down certain corridors. I turned to the right and ran before realizing I was at a dead end. My breath hitched in my throat as I spun around, searching for an exit. I turned to see the man turn in to the area, his face flushed from running after me.

"No, no, no!" I yelled, trying to scramble up the hedge, hissing as the branches tore at my clothes. My body grew ice cold as I sank to the ground, all hope leaving. This is how it ended last time… There must be something else, I searched frantically, pushing myself against the edge as the man slowly stepped towards me. With a sudden rush of adrenaline and split second decision, a jumped up and threw myself at the man, who grabbed me as he stumbled back in surprise. I shoved him away from me and kicked his chest, causing him to slam onto the ground. I kicked him again and ran away from him while he struggled to get up.

I flew down the corridors, running frantically as I heard the man's heavy footsteps behind me. I turned, only to find a dead end, stumbling back to try to find another way out, but I couldn't find one in time. The man behind me jumped onto me, knocking me over and pinning me down. "You lost." He said, his voice gravelly and robotic as his intense eyes stared into mine, his hands tight around my throat, and soon enough, I started to feel dizzy and see my vision turn black. The next thing I knew, my head was aching and my eyes burning from the fluorescent lights. I got up, looking around the plain, small room that looked strikingly similar to a prison cell, and got up to try to open to door. Locked.