Maze

He had passed the sign to the maze each morning - he was working on a week's contract in Wiltshire - and, on the Friday morning, he decided to stop and take a look.

The maze was formed from small trees - he didn't know what sort - but the trees were not in good condition and some were missing altogether. This meant that the maze didn't represent much of a challenge; he could see through the "walls" and get a good idea of the overall pattern. But the path was quite convoluted and he could see that, when it was new, the maze would have been tricky to navigate.

As he made his way towards the centre, it became colder. Possibly because the maze sat in a circular depression. The leaves on the trees at the centre of the maze were thick and, for the first time, he couldn't see through them. It was quite cold now. He hesitated and then walked, quite quickly, back towards his car. He broke into a trot and arrived back at his car at a run.

The sweat cooled on his back and the sound of his panting filled his head as he started the engine and drove off towards the meeting for which he didn't want to be late.

But, at the point when he ran from the maze, he hadn't yet remembered the meeting.