text: [Themes: horror, humor]
  
  It is Halloween night and you and your best friend, Mara, decide to check out a haunted corn maze a few towns away from where you live. The corn maze is in the middle of nowhere on a large farm. The maze are is very popular and people enter the maze at no more than five people at a time. You and Mara enter the corn maze in a group of five, however that doesn't last very long. At the first fork in the road you and Mara make a sharp right and the rest go straight. You walk slowly through the maze and start to realize its getting darker. You can hear screams from around the corner. You peer around the corner and notice it's just a dead end. There is a red button at the edge of the dead end. It reads "Press the Red Button if You Dare." Your friend, Mara, goes right up to press it, but you stop her.
  
  "Don't do that!!! We don't know what will happen. It's Sketchy," you say to Mara.
  
  "Aww have some fun. It could help us figure our way out," she says.
  
  You look at the button again.
  
  > Do you turn around and go another direction?
  You turn around and tell Mara that you're not pressing the button. They follow behind you. Just then a crazy dude with a real chainsaw starts running toward the both of you. You both run screaming. You make a left, then a right, then another left. The sound of the chainsaw fades in the background. You and Mara hide behind a large group of cornstalks. You're shaking in fear and then you both turn when you hear a mystical voice sound from behind. Sitting before you is a fortune teller, with a large crystal ball.
  
  "Hello, my pretty's! Care to get your palms read?" she says in a cackling voice.
  
  > Do you get your fortune read?
  The fortune teller starts wildly cackling. She points at you and tells you to take a seat in front of the crystal ball. You look at Mara who is wide-eyed and panting. You take a seat and look at the magical ball in front of you. It is forming faint pictures in a collage. The fortune teller places her hands on the ball and her eyes begin to roll back into her head. She begins to speak very rapidly in another language. You are beginning to panic. You stand up and the teller screams at you to sit down in a cackle.
  
  Then she asks, "I cannot reveal your fate for tonight, but I can give you one tip to escape the maze."
  
  > ask for the advice
  "You, my pretty, need to find the stalk that is painted all gold. Once you find the stalk you need to walk straight for eight steps then make a right and a sharp left and you will be free from maze. You need to escape before 12:00 midnight, or you will be turned into werewolf and stuck in the maze forever," says the fortune teller.
  
  "Thank you, thank you. Which way to the gold stalk?" you reply in fear.
  
  "That is for you to find my pretty."
  
  > And Mara take a left and begin to run
  Suddenly you see a pirate hobbling your way.
  
  "ARRRRGGG What are yee doing in here? Yee have one hour until midnight maties."
  
  "What do you mean?" you reply.
  
  "If yee don't get out before midnight, yee will turn into monsters in here and be stuck forever. I can help yee escape. But you have to find me treasure box."[Themes: fantasy, female protagonist, horror, fantasy]
  
  "Mum, were you a gardener?" You kicked your legs back and forth, never able to sit still, even while you leaned on the table. Your fingers felt the familiar grooves of your table, including the gash created during the vegetable incident. Mum wasn't happy; however, you never had much to do with vegetables besides eating them.
  
  "Why ask, Moonbeam?" Mum smiled as the setting sun made her blonde hair almost golden. You envy her hair. Mum told you to be proud of your blondy-white hair, saying hair like the moon made you precious and special. You knew better. It just meant kids kicked you in the shin since they're all poopy heads.
  
  You blushed at the nickname, one she never says in public. "Well, when I went to the well, I saw Maz." Your fists clenched in anger. The Priestess said to forgive, but Maz was so mean! She always made fun of you and made the other girls not like you. "She said her momma said you used to be a farmer before you worked at the shrine." You looked at the ground and mumbled, "Then, people laughed."
  
  "A farmer?" You could almost hear her eyebrow rise from how confused she was.
  
  "Yeah!" You nodded super fast. "You never said you did vegetable things before that, especially digging."
  
  Your mother set two bowls of cabbage stew on the table. "My parents were merchants, so I never farmed, even though we grow flowers for the temple here." She pointed her finger in the air and said in a silly, grumpy tone, "There's a big difference between gardening and farming, your acolyte."
  
  You giggled. "Was that why Maz got red like a tomato when I said her momma was a farmer too? Cuz, um, their family grows the special herbs? Everyone laughed even more when I said that."
  
  "Even the adults?"
  
  "Yup!" Mum's shoulders lowered, and she grimaced. "Did I say something wrong? I... I'm sorry."
  
  She shook her head. "What, exactly did you two say?"
  
  "Well, Maz yelled, 'Guess what Mother said! She said your mom was a hoe!' So, I said, 'Your momma's a hoe too!'"
  
  Mum sighed. "You remember when I told you about staying away from Grandpa?"
  
  "Yup!"
  
  "Well, Grandpa was angry because... I couldn't have kids."
  
  "But you had me!"
  
  "I did." She ran her hand through your hair. "But Grandpa got angry because no one wanted to marry a woman who couldn't have kids. That's why you have no daddy. So, I was fourteen when he decided to make me a..." She scratched her head. "Do you know those ladies who live in the naughty building?"
  
  "The nice ladies who scare away my bullies?"
  
  "Yeah, those ladies. I used to work there, and mean people call them hoes. The proper term is prostitute, but you can also call them harlots if it's easier for you to say."
  
  "Okay! Why'd you stop working though?"
  
  "I prayed every night for a little girl." She smiled. "I would say, 'Please gods, any one, please give me a little girl for me to love.' Then, one day, the moon covered the sun when I was praying, and I saw a man among men suddenly in front of me. He said, 'I'll make you the mother of a moonbeam.' The next morning, I asked a healer mage if I had a child, and he said I did." You gasped, never having known this story; however, you always knew Mum loved you so much. "Since I already had a working relationship with the high priest, I transferred to being a flower girl."
  
  "Is that why you call me Moonbeam?"
  
  "It is. Now, eat your soup before it goes cold, then we can play hide and seek. Okay?"
  
  "Uh-huh!" You ate the soup as fast as you could because hide and seek was the best game ever. You and Mum would take turns being the seeker. You'd always find Mum because she said you were super smart, and she could never find you since she said you were super sneaky.
  
  You loved Mum and wanted to be with her forever.
  
  > hide and Seek
  After cleaning the dishes, Mum said, "I'll count to fifty, and you hide. Ready, Moonbeam?"
  
  "Yeah!" you squealed.
  
  "One, two, three..."
  
  You looked around your farmhouse. It had one big room on the bottom floor on the bottom where you had the table, kitchen, and storage corner. Above, there was your bedroom where you and Mum snuggled together in a fluffy bed. You used to be scared of the ladder, but you became a brave girl.
  
  Outside, you had a shed, the flower garden, and some bushes before the farm became woods. Mum said not to go into the woods at night. Monsters lived there.
  
  "Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen..."
  
  Knowing Mum would finish counting soon, you debated the options. You normally went outside since it had the best hiding places, but you knew it was getting dark out. You could go upstairs and hide under the bed, but then you'd get your dress all dusty. Lastly, you could hide on the main floor in... in one of the barrels of food!
  
  "Twenty four, twenty five, twenty six..."
  
  > hide Outside
  You scampered outside and past the flower garden. Looking up, the sun turned orange while the clouds turned pink, so you thought you had enough daylight to hide closer to the woods. There were big trees and small trees. Some trees were old enough to have a spirit, but none of these did. You already tried talking to them all. Deciding a big acorn tree looked the best, you squatted down on the ground but didn't kneel. Mum didn't like it when you got your dress dirty.
  
  You picked at the tree bark because you felt bored from the waiting. An ant tried to crawl on your foot so you squished it. The wind blew through the leaves. Something was wrong
  
  Where were the birdy songs?
  
  Whippoorwills always tweeted at night, and the fire finches cackled, but only the leaves made a sound. Something was wrong. The forest seemed scared. You wanted to run back to Mum, but you couldn't move. Every creaking tree could be a monster coming. Your pounding heart could mask a sneaky beast. Why did you choose to come outside?!
  
  "Ready or not, here I come!" Mum called out. She opened the door and narrated, "Now, where is my little girl?" Rubbing her chin, she looked at a bush. "Is she... here!" She pounced but didn't find you. All you wanted was Mum to find you. Why did you have to be so good at hide and seek? Why couldn't you scream for Mum to come over, hug you, and make everything better?
  
  Warm, humid air tickled the back of your neck. You heard a low grumble, then felt the same air again. Crying silent tears, you knew a monster stood behind you. A bony hand covered your mouth. You couldn't even breathe.
  
  A deep, rough voice whispered just beside your ear, sounding like a man who sang or screamed too much. "Your ma can't see me," the creature spoke. "If ya make a sound, Imma eat 'r too." Something long and wet pushed down the back of your dress and onto your back. It slithered back up. You felt sticky and gross. "You's a tasty one."
  
  > Scream
  "Mum!" you screamed. Mum will come and make everything better. You screamed again, this time in pain. Your shoulder felt like it got put in fire and stabbed a million times. Falling to the ground, you saw a thin, smokey monster gallop at Mum. She gasped before it pushed her to the ground and sunk its fangs into her neck. Blood spattered before he tore off her dress and bit in her stomach.
  
  Your mind stopped thinking, unable to understand what you saw. Your head became wetter and wetter as your shoulder bled onto it. Looking at the wound, you realized you didn't even have a shoulder anymore. There was so much red inside you, but now it went outside.
  
  The monster made gulping and slurping noises as it ate Mum. You became cold and sleepy. Then, you closed your eyes and hoped to see Mum once you died too.
  
  Death then gave you a hug.
  
  Roses are red
  Violets are blue
  You are now dead
  Soon to be stew