Lost in a Maze: Dead End

The tall, elderly patient wandered around the hospital grounds not knowing where he was going, not caring either. His thoughts were miles away, as he recalled his early childhood. Every now and then, he would stop, take a deep breath and continue to meander through the vast maze of pathways and sunken gardens.

Night was falling fast and a heavy mist hung over the area, giving everything an eerie appearance. The fragrance of blossoming lilacs wafted through the air, alerting him to the reality that he was on the far end of the hospital property. That was the only place where there were lilacs. There was a long fence that he was not about to climb.

“This pathway, I know,” he said to himself, stumbling on a treacherous walkway. As he fell, he landed on his wrist. “Ouch!”

Dazed, he realized he had hit his head on the stone hedge. He reached up and felt warm blood trickling down. He pressed his handkerchief against the side of his head. His left knee almost gave way, as he stood up.

“I have to find my way back,” he said to himself. “There are too many pathways in this maze, all leading in different directions and going nowhere.”

Weary, in pain and frightened at the prospect of being lost, the man continued to walk. It seemed as if he walked forever.

Suddenly, directly ahead, he could see the bright, colored city lights.

“Now I went too far the other way.”

Turning around, he saw a huge, dark building, looming directly overhead. A poorly lit, open doorway allowed him access to the inner maze of the hospital basement. The clanging furnace alerted him to the fact that he was near the boiler room.

He turned the corner and headed up a stairway and down a long, unfamiliar hallway that ended at a metal door. Opening the door, climbing inside and closing it carefully behind himself, he suddenly felt safe.

“Someone will find me,” he said, as he drifted off to sleep. “I have come from the womb to the tomb. Is this the womb revisited?”

Early the next morning, the missing patient was found, safe and secure, but still sound asleep.