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The night corn maze had one rule, painted on a board at the gate: if you get lost, raise your flag and stay put, and a guide will come to you. In October 1994, a father and his eight-year-old daughter went in with flag number fourteen.

In this original horror story, a man looks back on the brave night he planned for his daughter Cass, a girl as afraid of the dark as other kids are of dogs. For her eighth birthday, she chose six acres of field corn after dark, with a flashlight, an orange flag on a pole, and a farmer’s joke about the old roped-off well out at the north end. Cass named the walls of corn (the tall ones were Big Steve), held onto his belt loop, and kept her flashlight pointed at her sneakers so nothing could jump into the light. About an hour in, they’re properly lost, so they do what the sign says. They raise the flag, and a voice in the corn calls their number.

A slow-burn, unsettling tale of a night corn maze, a father and daughter, and a rule that’s supposed to keep you safe. No gore, no jump scares, just quiet dread that stays with you.

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📺 Watch the illustrated version on YouTube: Harrowing Tales

All Harrowing Tales stories are original works of fiction.