Short Stories

Submission - The Enchanted Staircase

The enchantress glowed a faint white light. Her appearance made her seem has innocent and pure as a newborn, but deep down she had a heart as black as sin. Mark knew this because for the last few hours she was tricking him, psychologically tormenting him. For hours he was forced to solve puzzles. The kind that would make your mind go numb just thinking about it. And if he didn't solve them in the allotted time, something bad would happen.

"Why? Why me?" He cried to the witch, not expecting an answer. Every time he tried, she would just stare blankly at him. Sometimes, just to tease him, she'd open her mouth, but not a word would escape her lips. Only this time, without hesitation, she responded with a sharp cackle like the sorceress she was and said "It's only fit." With that, she pointed towards a staircase.

"Make it through this labyrinth and you may forever be excused from this nightmare." She smiled reassuringly and dissipated into the wall behind her. Darkness consumed Mark has the faint glow disappeared with her. Taking a nervous breath, he murmured "I'm ready to be challenged, yo." He cautiously he headed up the stairs. What tricks could she have hidden here? He surveyed each step before heading up the next one, but nothing ever happened.

Soon, he began to become comfortable enough to head up the stair case while examining a few steps at a time. This went on until he was running up the stairs without a worry about traps and the like. He looked above him, something he now regrets greatly. The second he looked up, the top of the staircase seemed to become farther away within the blink of an eye. He looked down, the bottom seemed to stretch on for forever as well.

That was when he realized that the enchantress had never given him a time limit like she did with the puzzles before. This wasn't a puzzle, it was the trap he tried to avoid. The real puzzle was at the bottom of the stairs and he now he could never go back.

"I'm trapped."