The Shine Journal

The End of the List

by

Ben Loory

A woman finds herself standing in a maze. She looks this way and that, turns this way and that, goes up here and down there, spins around a couple times, and then suddenly finds herself in her kitchen.

Goodness, the woman thinks, what was that?

She steps out into the dining room and looks around. Goes into the living room, the bedroom.

No maze in any of those places.Very strange, the woman thinks. Very strange.
   
Over dinner with her husband,the woman mentions what happened.Maybe we should go to a movie tonight, he says.
   
Okay, says the woman, after a while.
   
They wait until they’re finished with dessert.
   
In the theater, the two of them sit watching the movie. A group of Asian men are threatening each other with sticks.
   
The woman turns and looks around. I’ll be right back, she says.
   
Okay, says her husband. I’ll be here.
   
The woman moves down the stairs toward the ladies’ room. On the way, she passes a small door marked “Maze.”
   
Oh, says the woman. That must be it! And she opens the door and goes in.
   
The woman wanders the maze for hours and hours. It actually turns out to be quite nice. It seems to be a hedge maze, but then, at other points, there are carpets and walls with fancy paintings.
   
The woman sits on a bench and stares up at the sky.The sky is pretty.The woman sees a plane.
   
For some reason it is hard to get back to the theater. The woman could swear she remembered the way, but now it seems different, all wrong. The walls close in from everywhere and vines grab at her ankles.
   
And when she does appear back in the theater, she finds herself in the film.
The Asian men-- now fighting each other with knives-- are screaming in a language she can’t understand.
   
Harry! the woman yells out into the audience. Harry, it’s me! Get me out!

That night the woman awakens with a start.Oh God, she thinks. Oh my God!
   
She looks over and sees her husband lying beside her. He is sound asleep and snoring loudly.

   
The woman climbs out of bed and goes down to the kitchen. She makes a cup of tea and sits at the table. She looks over her list of things to do tomorrow.None of them look very interesting.

The woman finds a pen and sits there, thinking. She wants to add something to the list. She thinks and thinks, and thinks and thinks.

And then, suddenly, she’s got it.
   
Learn to fly, she writes.

And sets down the pen.
   
On the stairs, halfway back up to bed, the woman suddenly pauses and turns. From its place way down at the foot of the stairs, the front door gazes up at her.
   
Outside, the night is chilly but clear. The moon is shining, and the hedges seem to glow.The woman steps forward, stares up at the sky.
   
I guess, she says, tomorrow won’t do.
   
She slips off her slippers, and sets them by the door, and then she takes a very deep breath.

And then from somewhere deep down inside, the woman feels a little lift.

Bio:BEN LOORY is a musician and writer living in Los Angeles. His work has appeared in Knock Magazine, Wigleaf, The Bicycle Review, Leaf Garden Press, and Hit and Run Magazine. His recently completed book Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day is currently seeking a home.

Motivation:I write without thinking, straight from the unconscious, so it is impossible to give my motivation. However, looking back, I see my mother in this piece, as well as a fascination with mazes which I attribute to seeing "The Shining" back when I was far too young a boy.