The Gate Keepers

The Gate Keepers

E. M. Areson

Cassidy pushed the gymnasium door open and ran out into the chilly air. She had waited all year for the winter dance. Her white dress and black shawl were not enough, even when coupled with her cute boots and tights, to keep her warm. She began walking away from the school and towards the park; Cassidy had her phone but didn’t want to call her mom yet.

The park was only a block away and soon she was standing next to a clump of trees in the heart of Rosewood Park; her anger turned to utter heartbreak. Cassidy set next to the trees, the cold, wet ground still had growing grass here unlike most of the city. The breeze whispered in the trees above her; though if she had been paying closer attention she would have noticed there was no wind.

“How could he? I thought he liked me…If he had he wouldn’t have kissed her.” Tears streamed down her face, “I thought everything was going to be perfect. Go with my friends, have fun, maybe even dance with…”

The whispering above her seemed to change in tone to something softer, more understanding.

“Wish I’d never gone tonight. Wish I’d never met him. Wish-” Cassidy took in a gasping breath. “Wish I didn’t live in this crazy world.”

The whispering stopped for a second, then began again sounding like the matter of some unknown argument had just been settled. You want to leave this world?

“Yes, I never want to see any of this again,” She doubled over in tears.

We are the gatekeepers. You wish to leave, we’ll let you. We’ll send you to a wonderful world full of kind people. You’ll have a wonderful life.

Cassidy stood looking at the trees, heartbreak had drained all other emotions, she wasn’t afraid. “Why do you care?”

You have come here since you were a little, we have seen you laugh and now crying you come to us. We like to help those who come to us.

“What do I have to do?”

Just push through, where we grow the line between worlds is thin. All you do is push.

Cassidy took her phone out typed out a message to her mom then dropped the phone. She kicked off her shoes let down her hair and pulled off her tights. “I’m ready.”

        She put her hand up and out and pushed. The world looked like it was shattering like glass around where her hand was. She could feel the pleasant warmth coming from the other side and hear several laughing voices. She pushed more, and her arm went through and from the space around it, she could see grassy hills and a charming village only a few minutes walk away. The laughing people, teens her age, noticed her and waved. She waved back and joined them.

        In the morning the police found, to their heartbreak, where the teenage girl had disappeared from devoid of clues to where she was. Her phone, how they had located the spot, was in a heap with her boots and tights. The message texted to her mom was the first thing to come up when the forensics team examined it. ‘Dear mom. I love you, but the gatekeepers are letting me go to a world full of kind people where they say I’ll have an awesome life. Give my stuff to charity. Say bye to everyone for me. Love you. Bye.”

        No one heard from Cassidy again; nor could they understand her strange message. A memorial was built next to the trees and school in the area increased the number of adults at dances and talked more about suicide prevention. Her crush, always having suspected she liked him, was distraught. He eventually became a teacher at their old high school and never married.  Her mother, the only parent Cassidy had even known blamed herself and spent the rest of her life working with depressed teens.

Cassidy, however, spent her happy days in the sun of a new world. Her friends and adopted family were the most loving people she had ever known, and one day she started a family of her own in a world she loved. Sure, farming could be demanding work, but it was good work. She lived her days in happiness with and soon forgot the meaning of the world heartbreak.

Everything you do has an effect on others; no action is without reaction.

Photo by Michael Liao