Chapter Text
“Mummy?!” Arthur yelled. “Mummy?! Where did you go?!” He called out, his small eight year old body shaking from the cold. His own voice echoed back at him.
The beige walls of the hallway long gone, now surrounded by high hedges of green that seemed to mock him. With dark clouds above him, Arthur wandered through the maze. As time went on he felt himself slowly growing taller, his strides widened, his dark hair grew to his shoulders, his voice deepened slightly as he called out. Whispers seemed to follow him everywhere, but the sources were nowhere to be seen.
“Mummy, I'm scared!” Arthur cried, hot tears streamed down his face. He collapsed onto the dirt below him, exhausted.
“Arthur.” A voice whispered. The boy turned his head sharply towards where the voice came from.
“Mummy, is that you?” He questioned, he shakily rose to his feet despite the protests of his body.
“Arthur!” The voice said again, louder now. “Where are you, Arthur?”
“I’m right here Mummy!” Arthur shouted as he ran towards the direction of the voice, adrenaline rushed through him.
The voice continued to call for him as if guiding him through the maze. As he ran, His surroundings changed as he did, the narrow pathways grew wider, the dirt transitioned to grey stone, dark clouds now revealing a misshapen moon. Arthur stopped running when he entered a large courtyard, with a single lamp post next to an empty, black, metal bench in the center.
“Mummy?” He shouted as his eyes darted around the courtyard. No voice called back to him, but he could hear faint cries coming from the bench.
Now no longer empty, a hunched over figure in yellow sat on it. Arthur slowly made his way over, he realized it was a young boy, no older than four, in a yellow rain coat.
“Are you okay?” Arthur asked, moving to sit beside him. That seemed to startle the young boy, he stared up at Arthur in shock for a moment.
“I–I c–can’t–t f–find my d–da-ddy!” The little boy sobbed
“It’s okay, I’m sure he’s somewhere.” Arthur reassured as he looked around.
“Can you help me find my daddy?” The little boy asked as he threw himself in Arthur’s arms.
After the initial surprise wore off, Arthur tightly wrapped his arms around the little boy, rubbing his back the way his mom had done for him. “Yeah! I’m sure he’s close by!” He agreed.
The little boy continued to shake and sob in his arms. They stayed like that for a while till the little boy’s breathing slowed and his tears stopped. Soon, the little boy pulled away and looked up at Arthur with big, brown eyes.
“Can we go find my daddy now?” He sniffed. Arthur stood up and offered his hand to the boy.
“Yeah! Let’s go find him!” He cheered, as the two walked hand in hand into the maze.
They hadn’t walked far when a distressed, deep voice called. “Arthur?! Arthur!” Both boys turned to face it.
“Daddy?!” The little boy screamed, he didn’t let go of Arthur’s hand. That’s when a tall, dark-haired man appeared a few feet in front of them.
“Arthur?!” The man yelled, once he noticed the two of them.
“Daddy!” The small boy cheered, slipping his hand from Arthur’s, to run towards the man. The boy’s father scooped him up into the air.
“There you are Arthur! I am so sorry I lost you!” The man cried, holding his son close. He made eye contact with Arthur and mouthed “Thank you.”
Arthur just stared, confused. There was a sense of familiarity from the man, Arthur couldn’t remember where he had seen him before. The father set the boy down and he whispered something in his dad’s ear. After the father nodded, the little boy ran towards Arthur and grabbed his hand.
“Thank you for helping me.” The little boy smiled. He pressed something into Arthur’s hand, then he ran back to take his dad’s hand.
They waved goodbye to Arthur as they faded into the darkness. All Arthur could do was stare at the space where they had been. Finally, he looked down into his hand, finding the house key his mummy had given him the day before. His mummy had said he was a big boy now so he could have his own key. The key had a Spider-man logo on the top, it was red and blue. He had been so proud of it, now? It was a painful reminder that he was lost and couldn’t find his way home. Tears started to form in his eyes again as he clutched the key to his chest.
“Don’t worry Mummy.” He whispered into the darkness. “I’ll find you.” He vowed, as he wiped away his tears.
~~~~~~~
Back in the room where it had all started, Dorothy sat as she stared daggers into the older man in front of her. They were surrounded by broken porcelain, blood, and spilt tea. She watched as her eight year old son, now around fifteen, attempted to make a bed from random leaves to try and sleep. Anger still rushed through her veins, it wasn’t far that her boy had to suffer so much. She gripped the arm rests tighter.
Dorothy had thrown many tea cups and tea pots at Mr. Winthorp in her rage, and yet the man did not bleed, did not cry out in pain, nothing. Instead, she was covered with the exact injuries she had intended to inflict onto him. The silent man, Winthorpe as he was called, sat beside her, tending to her wounds. He was taking a lot of care in bandaging and cleaning them, she couldn’t understand why though. Dorothy didn’t recognize him, but every time she looked at him, there was the feeling of deja vu.
“I shall be back in a few moments.” Mr. Winthorp announced as he rose from his seat and disappeared.
She listened as his footsteps got quieter, once she could no longer hear them, Dorothy turned to look at the silent man.
“Who are you?” She asked him. He looked at her with fear and sorrow in his eyes, they stared at each other.
Finally, he shook his head slowly then continued to tend to her wounds. Dorothy sighed and slumped back into her chair. She needed to find a way out and back to her son.