The Mirror Maze

"Bonnie," said Susie. "We're not lost, are we?"

"Lost? Why would we be lost?"

"Do you know the way out?"

Bonnie hesitated. The two girls had gone for a long stroll through the carnival, marvelling at the sights and wonders on display in all directions. Rollercoasters rattled, carousels twirled, clowns cavorted, carnival barkers on all sides had called for the girls to enter billowing red tents and see spectacles fantastic beyond imagining.

But, finally, as if it were their destiny, they'd found themselves drawn to a slim blonde woman in a spangly blue leotard and crystal-studded tiara, standing outside a complicated-looking building made from steel and glass. The walls were lined with distorted mirrors, and the carnival guests' reflections were contorted as they passed into slender giants and fat midgets. Puffs of steam seemed to billow from a twisting network of pipes that ran all across the building.

"Step right up," the blonde woman had called to the girls as they strolled passed. "Step right up and test your wits in the fantabulous Mirror Maze! Are you brave enough to enter? Are you smart enough to escape?"

Susie looked at Bonnie. "Well," she said, "you're pretty brave."

"And you're pretty smart," Bonnie said back. "Let's try it back."

So inside they had stepped. That was fifteen minutes ago.

Now, Bonnie and Susie saw their reflections on all sides, in between hexagonal pillars decorated with playing-card suits in multicoloured fluorescent paint. They could see the confusion on their own faces. They couldn't tell which arched hallways were exits, and which were just more mirrors.

"Bonnie," said Susie, a little hesitantly, "do you think we'll ever get out of here?"

"How should I know?" said Bonnie, a little testily. The mirror maze was beginning to creep her out. She thought they were alone in the building, but a couple of times she thought she'd seen someone disappear around a corner just ahead. Or possibly behind. And it might just be her imagination, but her countless reflections didn't all seem to be perfectly synced up. "You're supposed to be the smart one."