Ari had lured me into a maze on her uncle’s estate and left me in the blazing sun as payback for deserting her for another woman.
According to my watch, three hours had passed and there was still no sign of Ari. I spent the time vainly wandering in circles until I was exhausted and sore.
The sun was now high in the sky and beat down mercilessly. My throat was parched and dry.
There was no place to shelter from the relentless blaze of the sun in all its fury and I was starting to come unhinged.
I began hallucinating, seeing the sun as Ari’s malevolent face laughing at me. I felt trapped the way a bee must feel caught in a glass jar and at the mercy of cruel tormentors.
I imagined enormous bloated faces peering in at me as if distorted by the glass walls of a bell jar.
A parade of phantasmagoric images came at me, each more hideous than the next, and shutting my eyes only made the visions stronger.
I screamed out to the unyielding blue vault over me, but there was no help—I was trapped in a desolate furnace of affliction with my tongue swollen and lips blistered.
Suddenly, I felt dizzy and blacked out.
I was shocked awake by an icy wave of cold water breaking over me.
Dazed and bleary eyed, I saw Ari standing before me, a water bucket in her hands, laughing.
“You were thirsty and hot, Theo—so I brought you a whole bucket of water.”
“Please Ari,” I croaked, “Let me have a drink of water.”
“
But I dumped a whole bucket on you. Men are so ungrateful.”
“Please Ari,” I pleaded.
“Are you sorry for dumping me, Theo?”
“Yes,” I rasped huskily. “I’m sorry, Ari.”
She eyed me narrowly as if weighing my sincerity. The sun was at its zenith and everything was blinding white.
“Very well,” she said at length, “Cup your hands.”
Shaking with anticipation, I managed to cup my hands together and hold them out toward her. She turned the bucket over and a small trickle of water spilt over my palms and I greedily licked it up.
It was barely enough to moisten my lips.
My tormentor peered into the bucket and then looked back at me. “Oh dear, it’s all gone.”
I uttered a low groan and watched her turn on her heel and begin to walk away.
“Wait,” I cried out. “For the love of God, Ari—please have mercy on me.”
She ignored my outburst and said sweetly, “You know, the labyrinth entrapped evil spirits, Theo—you might consider that.”
I groaned as I realized this labyrinth did have a minotaur—Ari had morphed into a monster that inhabits nightmares and there seemed to be no way out for me.