“Left, left, left right left”

Ellena's lovely singing voice rings out as she skips down the maze with Jared in tow. The pair would laugh and stop every so often to look at random bugs or other objects that took their interest.

As Josh watches them, he slowly remembers how they are so similar, yet slightly different from one another. Ellena was always laughing and going at her own pace. From dancing randomly, to jumping to the ground to get a better view of the things she saw. Always acting before thinking. Not afraid to get dirty and it seemed like nothing could scare her.

Jared on the other hand would pay attention to his surroundings. He would think a little bit before he acted or decided on something. His eyes watching other people as they pass. He also had the habit of writing things down. Whenever Josh had a chance to glance at his paper, he would see surprising nicely drawn bugs that they had seen. On another corner of the paper he saw a few vertical and horizontal lines. As they walked through the maze, he would randomly add more on to it

*If I’m right. I think he is drawing the areas we have walked through. Kind of like a map. That's actually really smart. We could use this map to get to the exit quickly once we find it. Now that I think about it, why didn't I remember this kind of stuff about them? It feels like I’m learning about them the very first time. What are their interests? Who were they in school? Did they have friends?....Let's not even mention how they are wary about strangers. I should ask mom or dad about that later*

As his mind wanders and his siblings play around, they have reached multiple dead ends. Each time they reached one, Ellena would look at Josh with a stink eye

“Dead end again! Are you sure this trick works Boshie? All we have seen is bugs, corn, and grass! No statue in sight! Everything looks the same too”

*Holy shit girl. We have been walking for around 5 fucking minutes! Of course we haven't found a statue yet. And what the fuck you mean every thing looks the same? Of course they do! Were in a fucking corn maze! Was she always this impatient?*

With a massive sigh, Josh holds his head and replies

“Yes Ellena, if you don’t believe me, then ask Jared. He has been making a map since we started this railroad maze”

“Really?”

Ellena then leans over and glances at Jared as he writes. As she looks at his paper, she can make out a few things. Some of the areas have words written next to them. One says bugs, another says entrame

“Hey Bear, what's this word?”

She points at entrame

“Huh sis? That's entrance? That's where the maze starts”

Jared looks at her shyly. Attempting to hide other parts of the paper.

“Are you sure Bear? Because I thought entrance was spelled as E.N.T.R.A.N.C.E?”

“That's correct Ellena. Let me see”

Once Josh looks over and reads the words, he realizes that she apparently can’t read. As Jared has in fact spelled the word correctly

“That’s what I put down?”

A small sigh escapes Jared as he looks over at Josh. His expression easily implies that he is used to this

“Besides that, Joshie, what is a railroad maze? You mentioned that before”

After being asked this question, Josh looks forward, thinking of the best way to describe it. After thinking for a minute, he reaches down and grabs a stick. Then in the dirt he makes an exact copy of the maze on Jared’s paper

“As you may not know, there are a ton of different kinds of mazes. To name a few, there are traps, blocks, loops, and linear. There are other kinds but trust me, they are really confusing and something you won't see on a normal basis. So let's go over the four I named. Linear, also known as railroad, means that there's only one entrance and one exit. There is only one path you can take.”

As he talks, he writes start on one side of the maze, and exit on the other side. Then he draws a path that connects to the words that move through the maze. Making only one path to show what he was talking about

“See? Now as for traps. They are just like railroads but have one way doors”

“Oh okay. Like when we went through that haunted house during Halloween last year?

*I have literally no idea what you're fucking talking about. But sure, let's go with that I guess*

“Yes! Good job man!”

Right when Josh complimented him, his face got a little red. Ellena on the other hand couldn't believe what she just heard

“As for loops. These are just like they sound. They loop around and make a circle”

When he starts talking about loop mazes, Josh draws a square and circles it

“As you can see. No matter where we start, if we keep going in one direction we will eventually be back at the beginning. This maze is a little bit harder to solve. A good strategy is to make marks as you go. That way if you do loop, you left something behind to know”

Jared pays close attention to what Josh says and writes down a few things. Ellena on the other hand couldn't look more bored and uninterested

“That's really cool Joshie! When did you learn this?”

“Ugh, who cares about this Bear? We are losing time!”

A laugh escapes Josh when he hears Ellena complain

*Now we care about time, little princesses?*

“Thank you for reminding me Ellena. I almost forgot that we are on a time limit.”

*With how well I am at lying, I think I deserve to win an Oscar. If they knew just how anal I am about time now*

“I can teach you more about this later Jared, if you're interested. Right now we need to find those statues!”

Josh then jumps back up and continues walking. As they walked, Josh slowly realized just how out of shape he really is. Both of his siblings are running every so often. Singing, jumping, and so on. While he on the other hand, is starting to get tired by just walking

*This is very concerning, I am already starting to feel sore. My legs are starting to cramp a bit. This is fucking pathetic. Just how out of shape am I? Just what the fuck have I been doing at this point? Sleeping and laying on my ass all day or something? Whenever I get the chance, I need to stretch and learn the limit of my current self*

With his thoughts preoccupied, Josh didn't realized that they have walked into a big open space. When he hears Ellena excitedly scream, a fish statue comes into view. Lovely flowers and other bushes decorate the area with some benches for resting

*Well this is lovely looking. It's a little depressing that in only a few years from now little parks like this will become rare to see. Forcing the normal populace to pay a fee to allow privilege to walk though it. Fuck the rich people and their shitty ways to gain money*

With a minor complaint, Josh’s focuses back to his siblings as they rush to the fish statue and quickly write down the word on their paper

“Free? I wonder why the word is free?”

As Josh walks closer to his siblings, he starts to pick up on their conversation

“Who knows Bear? Does it need to mean something?”

“I think so, look, at the bottom of the paper it has another question”

Josh then glances at the paper and sure enough, a question was there

(If you put all words in the correct order, you can win a ticket for a raffle)

*Oh? Well that's interesting. I’m slightly curious if the raffle has baskets to pick from, or is it just one big reward? This is a great way to get the kids parents involved, depending on what the baskets are*

“A raffle? Joshie what's a raffle?”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

His brother asked him with upturned eyes

“Well, I can think of two kinds of raffles. One is where there are many baskets. In that one you put a ticket in a box and at the end of the day, they randomly pick a ticket from the box. If your ticket was picked, then you win! The other raffle is the same but you're limited to only one basket. In that type of raffle, the basket is usually worth a lot of money or has a lot of stuff”

“Are you sure it's a good idea to trust him Bear? You know how many times he has lied to us before!”

“What was that Ellena?”

She then sticks her tongue out at him and makes a childish noise

“It's not my fault that I don’t trust you! Meanie!”

With the final say, she then grabs Jared and bolts off back into the corn maze. Leaving Josh slightly behind

*I would say I’m hurt but I’m more lost than anything. I wonder just how many times I have lied to her for her to mistrust me that much. A woman's scorn is eternal after all. If I don’t make up with her soon, she may hate me forever…..Holy shit, that can’t be the reason why she never forgave me right? I mean, I have seen people do worse for less. Yet again she is a little child*

As Josh follows them, he realized that they were conversing with each other. He was able to gather some information, but nothing useful. Nor does it explain what they are talking about

*Why……because……happy…..really…..Yep, I have no Idea what they are talking about. I should try to win their favor and give them their privacy. I don’t need to know what they are talking about at this time anyways*

He then follows them at a distance. As they wonder, Jared never forgot to keep writing and adding more to his little map. After a few minutes of walking they reached another opening with another statue. This one has a flag with the word ((AMERICA) on it. With both of them gaining more motivation, they quickly bolted back into the pathway to continue forward. At first they were just walking, but before Josh realized it, they were jogging. With no other choice, he joined them

“Haaa, Haaa, Please you two. STOP JOGGING!”

Josh couldn't keep himself up anymore. Collapsing hard on the bench that lays to their 3rd statue. A pole with (OF) as the word

“Wow Boshie. That's….really sad that you are already out of breath”

“Yeah, really Joshie. We have only been jogging for a few minutes at most”

Between his deep breathing, Josh tries his best to answer back

“Look, I'm not in shape as you two. Can we please slow down for a bit? We still have 15 minutes left! Jared, can I see your map?”

With confusion, Jared hands his map over to Josh

*Alright, we already found 3 statues. All that's left is the exit and 2 more. Based on what he put down, all we have left to explore is the top and far right corner. I already know that the exit is located to the top part of the map*

“Okay, I vote that we just walk till we see the next statue, then we can jog after that. Deal?”

“But but but”

Ellena’s voice echo's out

“We still need to hit the toy booth!”

*For fuck sakes I know! But I’m about to pass out!”

“Look, I’ll help you both with the last question. That way you both can get the raffle tickets alright?”

Jared then pulls Ellena away and has a sibling talk with her. After a minutes of mostly looking at each other's eyes, they come back

“FINE! But only because Bear talked me into it!”

*Ooooh I'm so fucking thankful….not*

“Okay fine, let's go then”

With that, they walk quickly down the pathways. Walk would be the wrong word. Fast walking would be more accurate. After a few more left turns, they have located their fourth statue with the exit behind it. As Josh looks at the exit, he can see a few workers and guards.

“LOOK LOOK!! The exit and a statue! But this one is a blob or something? And it says (LAND) on it”

Ellena excitedly voices out as she pulls Jared with him. They then quickly write down their fourth word before attempting to put them in the right order. However after a few attempts, they give up. As Josh stares at them, he can easily tell that they are really not trying, or they couldn't even read what they put down

“Okay you annoying ones, let's quickly find the last statue. My body can’t handle much more than this”

“That's right Joshie! Lets go sis! I can already feel the action figure in my hands!”

Jared then runs. Not jogs like they all agreed upon, but runs FULL force down the next path with Ellena is tow. Josh just stares absently at them for a moment before yelling

“YOU TWO ARE GOING TO CAUSE ME TO BLACK OUT AND DIE!!!”

Even though he sounded mad, the smile on his face tells another story. If the numbers saw this, they would think that they accidentally took a hallucination drug. As one of the workers watched this, a slight laugh escaped her mouth. When Josh looked over at her, she waved

“It always warms my heart to see family being together like this! Look like your siblings are a handful”

With a subtle nod, he glances back at his siblings. Even though they have been running at full forces, they haven't gone to far yet

“They definitely are a handful, but the smiles they make are more than worth it”

“I can tell you mean it, you have had a smile on your face the whole time. You love them a lot, don’t you?”

Once she asked this question, Josh's face cramps up. Then his hand quickly goes to his mouth and traces his lips

*Now that she mentions it, some of my muscles in my face are a little sore too. I can’t remember the last time I actually smiled. Something is not right, my body is acting without my acknowledgment. This might be another question I need to ask those messages. I should copy Jared's idea and start writing things down. I don’t have my phone watch on me right now to make notes. Yet again, it probably haven't even been invented yet*

“Love? Sure I guess. At least right now I would say that emotion would be correct”

“Right now? You think in the future that would change?”

After looking deep into her surprising gorgeous green eyes, he chuckles

*If only you knew. They become scum in the future*

“You never know what the future may bring. They could go down the wrong path after all”

Even though Josh was staring at her deeply, in a way people may think of romantically, she stares right back

“Perhaps, my old man always told me that if I ever get a sibling, it was my responsibility to make sure that they don’t go down the wrong path”

After realizing that she would not back down, he looks away first and digest what she said

*It’s the same thing dad always says but the way she said it hits differently, is it because someone younger than him said it? Perhaps it is because she is a complete stranger? Or is there something more going on here? Fuck, another question to ask the fucking messages*

“I would love to talk more about this at a later time. Thank you for the conversation but I need to catch up with them. Have a good afternoon Ms.”

“MS? How old do you think I am? I’m only a few years older than you!”

As the worker was yelling this out, Josh runs down and follows his siblings. As he runs, he immediately feels his chest tighten up

*Okay, I need to figure out the limits of my current self, this is getting really fucking annoying*

With free time on his hands and with his siblings just slightly ahead, Josh figures that now would be the best time to see just what his current body can handle.

*Okay, First off, I know my stamina is fucking garbage. Based on how quickly I am catching up to them, I’ll say my speed is either normal or about average for someone my age. Lets see how my strength is”

Josh stops running and reaches over to the corn wall to find a stick or something to test his strength. With a quick scan, he grabs a few rocks of different sizes and a big branch. After glancing at his siblings to make sure that they are okay, he ignores the stares of the other people around him and attempts to break the stick in half. After a moment of struggling, the stick breaks

*Fucking A man. I am so fucking weak. That took me forever to break with brute strength. If I need to attack someone, then I need to use my knees, elbow, or stab them with a knife or something*

Josh then glances at his thin looking arms before throwing the rocks as hard as he can to the ground. It makes a pathetic thumb noise

*And shooting a gun right now might even break these fucking noodles. If I truly did go back to the past, then I need to workout and eat some god damn meat*

After making this quick discovery, he runs after the two twins who have gotten a little bit ahead. After running for what felt like hours, the last opening came into view. The fifth and last statue with the last word on it. As he got close to his siblings, they have already written down (THE)

“Finally you're here Boshie! Quick, help us with this last question like you promise! And you better keep it this time or I’m going to tell mom and dad!”

Without even having the chance to breathe, Ellena turns around and literally slams the paper right into Josh's average face, A wonderful *SMACK* sound echo's out

“UUUUHHHH I’M SORRY BROTHER!! PLEASE DON’T HIT ME!!”

Instead of being mad or getting annoyed at the sudden pain, Josh reflects on how much force she put behind that accidental slap

*Based on how much force she put behind it, she could even knock me to the ground if she knew the weaknesses to the human body. That's impressive and understandable. She has been active since I woken up*

Once Josh removes the paper from his face, He couldn't help but be shocked. Ellena was on the floor shivering in fear behind Jared. While Jared holds his hands up like he is trying to protect her from harm. A silence echoes out as Josh is completely baffled on what's going on. On the other hand, Jared started to shake too. Then after glancing at his adorable, shivering sister, he takes a deep breathe looks at Josh in his eyes

“If you need to get your revenge, then aim it at me!”

Another silence echoes out after Jared says this with determination. After attempting to understand what happened, Josh then ask a question before he could even think

“Why are you shivering and hiding? It was nothing more than an accident? It hurts but I'm not mad or anything. If anything, that was one heck of a slap there Ellena, I'm actually impressed”

After speaking this out, Jared and Ellena’s eyes get wide

“You're not mad at me? Really?”

Ellena voice whispers out

“Yeah, it was nothing more than an accident. Why are you shivering….I never hit you before or anything right?”

Jared replies out before Ellena has a chance to talk

“No, but you said in the car that the next time we bumped or bothered you, you would hit us in return”

After hearing this, Josh swore at himself

*Fuck me. Was I some kind of asshole or something?”

With another sigh, Josh looks at the paper and the five words. As he put them in order he speaks to his siblings who slowly stopped shivering

“I just said that because I was annoyed at my game or something. I didn’t mean it or anything. Like you said earlier, I lie a lot. Mom or dad would kick my butt if I did anything like that. But Jared”

Josh then thinks about the conversation he had with the worker right before this. Was it some sort of fate that she talked to him before this? That her words actually got him to truly think about it, or was everything just a coincidence?

Josh then looks at Jared in his eye, nothing put proudness oozing out of him when he speaks

“Jared, what you did just now, protecting Ellena. You were a true man right then. Protecting family and your loved ones at all cost is respectable and honorable. You have seriously impressed me today”

After saying what he truly meant, Josh ignored the confused faces his siblings where making and looks back at the paper

*I’m getting really annoyed with everyone's confused or shocked looks. Looks like I need to research my past. I hate beating around the bush with shit. That is why we had number two handle all that crap. Maybe I’ll just ask my parents whenever I have a chance to”

After realizing that Josh was truly not mad at them, they look at each other and whisper

“Sis, what is going on with Joshie? It’s like he's a completely different person”

“Right? If this was earlier today, he would have yelled at us or call us mean names like usual”

After thinking for a bit, Jared glances at Josh who is in deep thought.

“Maybe it’s what dad said, he woke up on the wrong side of the bed? He did sleep on the floor last night”

As the twins were completely baffled on Josh’s new behavior, Josh on the other hand was reading the words after he put them in the correct order

*(AMERICA, LAND OF THE FREE). I forgot that back in the good old days, people were patriotic about their country. Too bad the war changed all that shit*