Through The Gate I Shall Be Gone

Margaret Baldwin is my name. There’s no certainty on how old I am. Dead? Not yet I suppose. But I’m close to it, that’s a fact.

I have been standing behind this door for an eternity now and it seems that my staying will last for some more, This place, horrid. Lights? There’s none. Cold? Freezing to the bone. I can’t move, it feels like those dreams where you can’t scream of horror, no voice nor sound will come out of your mouth. Where you want to run to escape a fatal destiny but your legs move slowly and get slower with every second that passes you feel like taking yers to move an inch way from your ground.

I’m alone now but haven’t always been. There have been two opportunities now where I have had the company of different people. One, the first one, was an old man. Old, even older, so old he couldn't even remember his age. His face showed infinite centuries which had passed through him endless night and days that he could no longer enjoy. He did not speak and it was useless for me to speak to him. His eyes nevertheless revealed the beauty he had once had.

Such glitter was ever to be seen but in those huge pair of great lighthouses. Immense, blinding and serious at all times but carrying a certain touch of joy within. They reflected a picture of myself which I hadn’t stopped to examine for centuries. All of this open wounds just delved into my thousand wrinkle face

He didn't stay long but those were times were I could be, or some part of me, unaware of my situation and the atmosphere which surrounded my suffering being. Somehow his eyes shone with a kind of blissful light and revealed to mine apart from my physical twist of reality, the truth about the room. It was my height and there was space just enough for us both. The walls didn't seem like solid material and they weren't either stable or immutable. I could just imagine it re-shaped when someone else came in. Along with his years ran long times of his dwelling in this hole. He looked like a man who had been more than once in this place. Somehow I was sure it was going to be his last one.

There was a heavy door, more likely a gate. Ancient and dark as the creepy atmosphere which covered us both. It worked as entrance and exit. That's all I knew about it. He was gone.

Some long and deep thinking time passed be and the tribal shaped metal opened and the darkness gave some little space as she entered. Nine? Ten? I couldn't dare to ask, not even after she did with her soft but high pitched voice. I couldn't answer more accurately than "Much more than you I'm sure" She chuckled.

We could only exchange words for a little while. Her time was short here. That lovely and tranquil sound lasted until the end in my mind, for my old brain and eyes weren't able to take hold of her face for long. My memory of her lies in my ears. Once in a while I remember. Once in a while I'm comforted by her.

My chest hurts. My head bursts. This place has given me enough to think about and has shown me another picture of life that I hadn't seen in older times.This just doens’t feel normal. There's no joy to enjoy. Even colors have stayed behind.

Today I spit blood. Dark and thick. My blood, a bad signal. The end must be close. So much suffering is unfair. I want it to end...to end...My bones are already too weak to bear my own weight. I can feel my scalp, my veins are wrinkled and voluminous. I shake. I tremble. Oh God, can you hear me? Will you listen to my prayers? Do something! Tears splashed over my saggy cheeks. Their taste I could not even make out. I can sense bags below my eyes.

My lungs have shrunk and won't let sufficient air in. The gate is opening wide. I inspire deeply. I crawl outside but I am unable to describe the view. My eyes are dead. I think I’ve given my last breath. Everything turned so dark...so...dark... Her eyelids joined together.

Down below, in another dimension, in a hospital room a machine made a monotonous high pitched sound. The body lied peacefully immobile. Stone cold. A clean white sheet covered the departed.

Short story I had to write for English lesson. I liked the idea and I thank God that I had to finish writing it.
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Lucas Craig