Sarah and Nicolas, the soon-to-wed couple bring Samara across the border to Canada, hidden in their vehicle as she’s wrongfully accused of carrying illegal drugs. At the border, they pretend to be married, although they aren’t and Sarah is arrested for carrying an ornamental gold pagoda in her handbag. She’s bailed out the following day and a court case is filed. She wonders why Nicolas and Samara don’t turn up to inquire after her and learns later that they’re in a secret affair and they’ve betrayed her. She attends the court case alone, pays a fine and faces a suspended sentence of six months imprisonment. The following week, she flies to a city far away, finds employment there and settles down. She follows a university course to become a teacher. She coincidentally meets a young man (Sherman) and falls in love with him. He suggests Sarah be his niece’s home-visiting tutor and introduces her to his family. She gets negative vibes from his sister Kumberlin, whose husband has faced a tragic death in the past, caused by a sudden heart failure, after learning that his wife has deceived him.
Episode 10
The tuition started as planned. Sarah switched to working less in the restaurant, and she continued to follow university. Sometimes, after the tuition, she slept at Sherman’s, and eventually, she moved to his house. The tuition fees were agreed to be paid every three months, and it was happening as agreed.
One evening, after the lesson, Sarah was taking a walk in the garden, and Kumberlin joined her. Quite accidentally, she saw an abandoned area in the yard and she started walking there. She liked the look of it, but it was a challenge - a maze, and she could get lost in it. Kumberlin didn’t realise where they were heading. At the very moment, the maze was entered, Sarah was stopped by a loud cry. It was a howl, and she was terrified. She took a brief moment to understand that it came from Kumberlin.
“Oh, Sarah, don’t even think of going into that horrible maze! I dread it. You’ll be lost there for hours, with no idea of how to get yourself out.”
It was a request and Sarah stopped, uttering no word.
“Let’s not go into that maze! You should never walk into it by yourself. You may think it’s just so simple, but it’s very complicated. You’ll never be able to exit by yourself. You’ll simply get lost there,” she said.
Sarah couldn’t really fathom how far she was right. She still didn’t know if she was stopped by an authoritativeness or simply some genuineness. It was safely kept to conclude at a later time.
“Come, I have something to give you.” Kumberlin said as they walked back inside, into her bedroom.
She opened a drawer and took a piece of clothing out. It was a skirt, and she held it at Sarah.
“I’m sure this would look wonderful on you.” She said and Sarah took it to her hand.
Really speaking, Sarah wasn’t interested in acquiring anything that was offered to her, simply because she had her own little wardrobe, and she was pleased with it. Kumberlin thought Sarah needed support and she had to be sympathised with, but her cruelty always thrived, piercing her own feelings of sympathy. It was her misfortune. It could be said that the sympathy she had towards Sarah didn’t derive from kindness; instead, it derived from sadism. She scornfully sympathised with Sarah, and unfortunately, Sarah didn’t see this reality. Of course, she felt strange and uncomfortable, but failed to see anything beyond. How could she, being an outsider, perceive anything else when the possessor of such thoughts and considerations was unaware of the working of her own mind?
Sarah unfolded the skirt and had a good look at it. It was a faded, light-blue one. It had lost its shine, probably because it was remarkably old. She could also notice stains of rust here and there. Sarah still stared at it, trying to see the beauty of it and feel the generosity and kindness of Kumberlin, although opposing sentiments were developing within.
“Do you like it?” Kumberlin asked.
“Yes, that’s beautiful.” Sarah replied.
Only a depiction appeared right in front of Sarah as she held it before her eyes, trying to give an assumption. It entered her eyes, allowing her to identify it. Whether it was pretty or ugly was indeed her own assessment and nothing else it was.
“You can have it. Maybe you can wear it tomorrow.” Kumberlin suggested.
“Okay.” Sarah said.
Sarah didn’t want to wear it, but she sympathised with Kumberlin. She was softened as usual. There was no way that she could have any tendency to disappoint her. It would have been the same with anyone else, but with Kumberlin there was a great sense of fear and nervousness mingled with it - a fear, again, for no solid reason and for all the reasonable reasons in the world.
Sarah slept in a separate bedroom and when Sherman came home, they took walks outside in the night when the others were asleep. That was once, when she first entered the maze and it so happened with Sherman. They advanced into it. She just followed him, hardly realising that she was in the depth of the maze. Darkness was spreading all around and the tender pair drew themselves close to each other. There was absolutely no significant space between them. They were doting on each other. Sarah wished the time would stop right there and would never move, ever, but it was moving rapidly - faster than she could imagine.
She could see the twinkles far away in the sky. They whispered at her and she avoided them. It was a magnificent effort to escape from them, but it was a failure. Sarah was lying down on the ground. She knew that Sherman was by her side, but she was completely taken by her shiny friends. She felt that there was no other existence around. She was walking among stars, feeling her insignificance and significance deep inside. It was a happy moment, a happy sensation, and nothing was less or more important in the world.
Suddenly there was a flash of a memory. It was a quick consciousness and she returned to find herself alone in the maze. Where was Sherman now? He was nowhere to be seen. She was frightened. She wasn’t afraid of the dark, but she feared the maze. She knew that she had come to its core. There was no doubt that she didn’t know her way out. She looked everywhere around to see if she could find Sherman. She started walking back, hoping to find him. The more she walked back, the more she walked into the maze. She felt abandoned.
How could he be so ignorant of her? Did any harm come to Sherman? Did he deliberately leave her to be lost in the maze? Everything was a puzzle now. She had no answer to any question that drew in her mind. She kept walking deeper into the maze until she was extremely tired and fell on the ground.
How unbelievable! Had she been taken that strongly by the worlds that appeared far away in the universe? She began to view them again, realising her own unimportance. And she felt a flash of a light on her face. Distanced from it, she could see Sherman’s face. She stood up swiftly.
“Are you okay Sarah?” Sherman asked, turning off his flashlight.
“Yes.”
“What happened? I thought you fainted.”
“Oh no. I didn’t”
Really, not even Sarah knew much about her precious expeditions of the galaxy. However, it gave Sherman some kind of relief to hear that she was fine. He had gone inside to grab a flashlight when she had her eyes far into the night sky, gazing at it in amazement.
“Do you know how to find the way out of the maze?” He asked.
“No.”
“I knew all the time that you didn’t.”
She was engrossed in everything about Sherman as he went on and simply kept shadowing him.
“You only have to come to this point. You know how to identify this place?” He asked.
Sarah listened without uttering a single word.
“It’s this wider spot with five exits.”
Sherman went on explaining.
“There’s another good method to identify this. It’s simply this discoloured growth.”
She looked at the greenery and yes, it was discoloured there. She wondered if it was the ideal method of finding the turn. And then came exactly the right words from Sherman.
“But don’t rely on the colour of a tree, Sarah! That can change. Have faith in your mind! It works much better.”
Sarah was convinced of her quick conclusion and she kept listening to him.
“So you take this turn when you arrive at this turning point.” He said, taking the turn himself.
Sarah trusted him. But far away, she saw the bright objects in the sky. Were they giggling? She didn’t enjoy their nervousness.
“So this leads to the second turning point.” Sherman said, arriving at it.
She was taken by surprise. So, it was a very complicated maze then? It had two turning points.
“Follow instructions to come to the second climax! You get me, Sarah?”
“Yes.”
“And at this climax, which is the most crucial, you have to make your decision right as all the turns look almost the same.”
Sarah had a quick look at the turns as she listened to the description. And yes, he was right. They all looked alike and she couldn’t really identify from where she entered, unless she had thoroughly kept track.
“Are you confused, Sarah?” He asked.
“Yes.” She said.
“That’s the most striking thing about it. When you come to this open square, you don’t know where you came from.” He said.
“They all look the same.” Sarah confirmed.
“So this is what you have to do,” Sherman said, “you don’t fully enter, but stand at the entrance!”
“Yes.”
“And then you take your turn to the right. Understand?” he asked following the path, “this has many turns but, don’t trust any of them! Just walk straight and you’ll be directed to the exit.” Sherman concluded.
“There’re other directions too, but this is the easiest way of coming out of the maze.”
They ended up at the exit from where they could have an excellent view of their house.
“So you go in now! I’ll follow later.” Sherman repeated.
She began to walk herself in and she could hear his whispers before she made her first move.
“I’ll visit you tonight.”
To be continued next week
Copyright - Santhoshya Jayamali Seneviratne