At a certain time, in a certain place, there is a maze. The maze is formed out of junk, miles upon miles of plastic bottles, broken electronics, dented bumpers and busted engines, empty cans, and dirty toys that have, at one time, created happiness, but have outlived their purpose. In the maze, they form walls, impossible to climb, higher up than any person would be able to see over. There is no grass in the maze, nor any sun, for the ground is nothing but dead, dusty clay, and above, all that can be seen is a constantly gray sky. The maze spans farther than any human could walk in a lifetime, stretching out into a barren, cold eternity.

Into this maze, enters a girl.

She is nameless, ageless, timeless. She walks the maze, alone, never speaking. She doesn't feel hungry, or thirsty, or tired. She simply walks. Without rhythm or purpose, she wanders the endless maze, silent.

The girl is walking, just as she always does, when another person appears before her. He is old, skinny, fatigued, and helpless, and he kneels before her, his head at her feet.

"Please," he cries, "please, help me! Please help me get out! Please help...." The man coughs, attemping to thin the layer of dust that has compiled in his throat with the progression of time.

For the first time, the girl speaks. She speaks the word, "Why?"

The man trembles at her feet. "For so long... I've been trapped here for so long... I can't even remember... please, I need to escape! Please, help me!"

The girl looks down upon his pathetic frame. "Are you not happy?"

"Of course not!" He wheezes. "How could anyone be happy here?"

"Why are you unhappy?" she asks him.

"Because I'm hungry, but there is nothing to eat. Because no matter how much I thirst, I cannot drink. Because I want nothing more than to sleep, but there is no place to lay my head. There's nobody else here. There's nothing here but junk. Nothing but useless garbage."

"And this makes you unhappy?"

"Are you not unhappy?" The man replies with another question. "Are you happy here?"

She doesn't answer, but rather, moves to the wall, where she picks up an item and lays it at the man's feet. It's a child's toy, a stuffed bear. It has tears all over, its dark brown body is laced in a thin layer of gray dust, and one of its ears is missing. The man lifts his head to gaze at it for a moment. then shoves it to the side, where it joins the walls of the maze once again.

"A toy! How could a toy ever help me out of this cursed maze?!"

"Is it unhappy?" she asks.

"A piece of trash can't be happy or unhappy! It's worthless. It doesn't feel."

The bear's dark, plastic eyes watch on from aside, glaring at the man on the ground, gazing at the small figure standing over, as the girl speaks for the last time.

"If everything here is happy, but you are unhappy...."

The man turns angry eyes to her. "What?"

"Does the fault not lie--"

She stops.

"With you?" The voice is barely a whisper.

With you. The two simple words echo in the man's head, until he can no longer hear them through the noise. "W-what are you saying?"

The girl does not answer, but moves around the man blocking her path. He turns, and tries to follow her, but is too weak to stand. He reaches out to her with his dirty, callused, shaking hand, crying out, "Wait! Help me, please!" His pleas turn into desperate sobs as he drags himself against the hard ground. The girl hears his cries, hears his sobs, and knows when he collapses, unable to move any further. But only plastic eyes are left as witness, for she doesn't turn back. She will not turn back, because this is her purpose.

And she continues to walk the kind, quiet maze.