Jason sniffed at the fall air, moldering mushrooms, caramel apples, and cinnamon in everything. The corn maze looked less fun and more spooky as the sun was setting. But Jason guessed that was the point. The yellow brown stalks were higher than his head, a rare treat for him. He was used to ducking under doorways and folding himself into cars.
The tractor wagon he and Theo had rode in on was mostly filled with their classmates. It felt so strange to see them outside the twisting hallways of school. Regardless, they did their usual thing, giving him (and by proxy Theo) a wide berth. The boys all looked at him from under their brows. Randy was among the group and Jason wondered if he would have any luck if not for bad. But lately, Jason had avoided him and he had seemed to lose interest.
The tractor's driver leaned back in his seat, smoking a cigarette. He twisted an egg timer around. "Y'all got a hour," he said, and pulled his hat over his eyes.
Jason took a deep breath, wishing he could bottle how happy this time of year made him. He enjoyed October in particular, because anyone out and about might think he was in a really elaborate costume. Sometimes he got mistaken for a store mascot or a publicity stunt. But all those were better than the naked stares and raised eyebrows, the whispers that seemed to follow them around the grocery store. The shocked gasps when he wasn't paying attention and accidentally knocked something over with his horns which had started to come in. They were long enough to curve now, but still itched like fire.
It would all get better, his mom said. When he was grown and out in the world. When he moved somewhere where people like him were more common. He wasn't sure if he'd survive that long.
The local newspaper and several tabloids had featured stories on his birth. His mom had snipped them out and kept them in his baby book. He didn't know why. But they made him feel like her "other people like you" dog didn't hunt.
There were lots of nasty rumors about how she came to have Jason. And he had heard them all by now. In the locker room, the bathroom, passing the teacher's lounge. They at least had the decency of keeping Theo in the dark. Theo was only his half brother, from their mom's marriage. He had been born perfectly "normal". So they spared him.
"Come on," Theo said, tugging at Jasons's hoodie sleeve. Jason wanted to let the others go in first. He didn't need them pretending to be afraid when they ran into him. Truly, if not for Theo, he would've avoided it altogether. But freak of nature or not, he was a big brother. And big brothers had to get their siblings out of the house sometimes.
Jason let himself be pulled into the maze. It was well and truly dark now and some of the kids turned on flashlights. They squealed and chased each other around the corners, up and over hay bales. "Which way?" Jason asked as they came to a fork in the path. A scarecrow stood watch, its sackcloth face mostly shadow. Theo pointed to the right.
A stream of the others brushed past them, knocking into Theo. He brushed it off, in his typical good nature. "Here, hang onto me," Jason said.
"I'm not a baby," Theo said, and he wasn't. But Jason thought he always would be, at least to him.
"I mean for me," Jason said. "I can't hardly see." Another wave of people passed through them. They both got jostled. More than jostled. Theo cried out, but it was cut short. Someone tackled Jason, ringing him around the waist and dragging him to the ground. There were laughs all around. Jason could hear Randy's louder than the rest. Jason struggled to get up to his feet. By the time he did, the others were gone. Their flashlights were off. There was only the sound of the swaying stalks. "Theo?" he yelled out.
"Jason! Help!" Theo's voice sounded like it was a mile away. Jason ran down the path. He turned, and then turned again. He found himself back at the scarecrow. "Jason!" Theo called again and Jason could tell he was crying, could hear the tremble of fear in his voice.
Jason tore through the corn, pushing through instead of taking the paths. "Hold on! I'm coming!" Jason said. He stopped and lifted his large nostrils to the sky, sniffing. He was close. And Randy was with him.
The stalks smacked his face as he ran full-tilt towards them. He crashed into a clearing, one that wasn't part of the maze. A flashlight flicked on, lighting up Randy's face from below. "Hey, freak," Randy said, shadows pooling among his bright teeth and their silver braces. A few of their classmates stood around him and did the same. They had tied a bandana around Theo's head, through his mouth. He squirmed and sobbed.
"Okay, whatever," Jason said between heaving breaths. He waved his hands in surrender. "Good job, you scared us."
"I don't think you're scared just yet," Randy said. A little slice of moonlight appeared in his fist as his shiny switchblade flicked open. He slowly placed it against Theo's cheek.
Jason came to, surrounded by screams. The others scattered out into the night. Jason whipped his head around, the scent of blood all around him. He looked down. Randy lay at his feet. He screamed in agony. The sharp angle of his arms made Jason sick. Randy's switchblade was nearby, the blade snapped like his bones. Randy rolled over onto his stomach and tried to crawl away. Blood trailed through the bent and broken stalks as he crawled, crying for help.
Jason kept turning until he saw Theo. Jason ran and knelt down in front of him. He tried to untie Theo, but his fingers were too big. They shook and fumbled. His vision blurred as something warm trickled into his eye. Jason wiped it away, thinking it was sweat. The back of his hand was now smeared with blood.
Theo managed to get up and untied himself. "Are you hurt?" Jason asked. "Let me see." Theo moved his entire body to avoid his brother's hand. His eyes never left Jason. They were wide with fear, something animal and reactionary.
The rest happened quickly. The police and the paramedics arrived, called by the people running the corn maze. All of the other kids, and they really did look like kids now, were crying and helpless as they all tried to tell the police what had happened all at once. Jason kept his head hung low as they pointed at him over and over again. Theo wouldn't look at him. Jason was arrested and crammed into a cop car. Jason asked if he could wait until his mom showed up, to make sure Theo would be safe. But they told him he had the right to remain silent and suggested he should.
The days and weeks came on so slow after that. He was in juvie while they waited for trial. His court-appointed lawyer said they'd go for self defense, just so long as they didn't decide to try him as an adult. Randy lived and was making a full recovery, so that might help.
Jason found himself looking at his hands more and more. He stood a head taller than every guard. His skin was tougher than he had ever imagined. He could practically walk out of here.
But then Jason thought of the pictures. His mugshots. Randy's blood running down one of his horns, his fur matted, black, and sticky. He thought of the sadness his mom tried to cover up when her and Theo came to visit. He thought of how a fractured figment of the fear from that night still shone from Theo's eyes. How Theo still wouldn't say a word to him. But most of all, he thought about how good it had felt to hurt someone else.
And so he remained in his room behind the bars, within the halls blocked by bars, within the building whose only window was crisscrossed by bars. And he waited.