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pampamtiger · 3 years

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The Gate (short story) 1/ 2

This was supposed to be up last Halloween but I just finished this yesterday. I divided this story into two parts because of its length (it was supposed to be 1000 words maximum, but heck with my hands for typing beyond the limit...). The second part would be posted soon after.

Though this story hadn’t undergone much proofreading, I still hope that you could give it a try. :)

Enjoy!

Word count: 3477 (part one)

Themes: friendship, childhood, bits of fantasy

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Filipino terminologies used in the story:

ate - older sister tita - aunt

kuya - older brother manong - old man

lola - grandmother

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The Gate

Every spring during my childhood, my whole family, along with some of my relatives, would spend a one week vacation on my grandma's ancestral house located in the province. It was a two-story ancient house that had been standing for nearly a hundred years which was meticulously preserved and taken care of by my lineage. It had a marble first floor and a second floor that was mostly made out of furnished woods. But the house was not the only one that had been standing for ages and still looking like it's just been built. There was also this beautiful little garden located at the right side of it. The garden housed plenty of plants with abundant leaves, herbs, some leafy vegetables, and various flowers in full bloom. It had always been tended with utmost care, for it was a special space loved by my late great-great grandmother when she was still alive, as what my mother had mentioned. The small garden was enclosed by white fences and a gate embroidered with flower patterns. At the back of the garden, there was an identical but rusty gate plastered on a brick wall, which seemed to be a passageway to some place that I still did not know of... not until we met Harper.

One spring afternoon when I was eight years old, three of my cousins and I were playing in front of the garden. We liked playing there because it was the only spacious area that we could freely run to, without being scolded by our parents. It was our second day in the province, when we encountered her. We were resting under an Acacia tree in front of the garden back then, when we heard a voice. "Hello." It was a voice of a girl. We turned our glance toward the garden where the voice seemed to come from, and there was really a girl, standing in front of the gate, looking about our age and had a wavy auburn hair. Skipping happily toward us, the girl smiled brightly and waved her hand. "Uh... hello?" my cousin Danny hesitantly replied. "What game were you playing before?" the girl sat two feet away from us, giving us a fascinated look, like we were some kind of spectacle, when we basically weren't, just four sweaty kids who were dreaming of eating ice cream moments ago. "Well, we just finished playing tags for the third time and decided to take a timeout." I was the one who talked this time. "And who are you?" butted cousin Paul, looking a bit taken aback. "Oh! I'm very sorry! I got really excited to know what game you were playing earlier that I forgot to introduce myself. A-hem... Hello again. Nice to meet all of you. I am Per—H-harper. Harper, that's right. Sorry, I'm just excited to meet you." She said as she grinned at us, displaying her crooked front tooth. "Hi, Harper. We're glad to meet you, too! By the way, these are my cousins, Cindy, Paul, and Kuya Danny. Oh, and I'm Janine. Call me Ate Janine." After the short introduction that I uttered, she shook our hands one by one. "Hi, Cindy! Hi, Paul! Hi, Kuya Danny! Hi, Ate Janine!" She acted like she just ate tons of chocolate bars, jumping from one person to another, getting hyper as the moment passed, which by the way sounded a lot like her name. "Where do you live, Harper? We haven't seen you around before." It was Paul who threw her a questioning look, acting tough all of a sudden, as if he was not frightened minutes ago. "Oh, I lived near here, somewhere behind that gate." She then pointed at the rusty old gate, inside the garden. "That gate? Did you use it to get here?" My curiosity jumped out when I had asked her that question. It was not because we were not allowed to go beyond the old gate by our parents—they didn't even bother to tell us what was behind it—it was just we never thought of opening it since we were afraid of breaking it. "Uh...yes? I accidentally saw that gate and took a peek. I was captivated by beautiful flowers that I saw and the next thing I knew, I had already entered it and then saw you running around afterwards. Why?", she offered us an innocent gaze. "Nothing. Did you struggle to open it? It was rusty after all." "No, not at all! Believe me or not, the gate on the other side was not that bad looking. It looks okay, just like that gate." She gestured her index finger at the outer gate of the garden which still looked pristine due to caretakers. "Really?" Cindy perked up. "Really. Anyway, let's not talk about the gate anymore, please. Now that we know each other, is it alright if I play with you? I don't have any friends in here yet. I want you to be my friends. It's been so long since I last made a friend." "How can we be friends already, we just met you! Mommy said not to talk to strangers!" Paul sulked beside Danny. Harper looked hurt and her eyes turned sad. "B-but I just told you my name. We know each other now." "Hey, Paul. Quit it. Don't be mean to her. She just wanted to play with us. She was not hurting you, is she?", lectured Kuya Danny who was a year older than me and two years to Paul and Cindy. "Kuya Danny was right, Paul. Harper meant no harm, right Harper?", she nodded at me. "Paul was a meanie, not Harper!", shouted Cindy. "Hey!" "Paul, stop it already. We will play with Harper whether you like it or not. You can go inside the house if you don't want to play." "Oh no. I don't want to force him to be my friend. It's okay, Kuya Danny." Harper insisted. "No, Harper. We'll be your friends. We'll play with you. It's just that Paul is not used on playing with other kids unless it's us, because he grew up hearing stories about strangers and that scared him." I assured her as I patted her head, for she was a bit smaller than me. "F-fine! I'll play, too. But do not blame me if we suddenly get kidnap by strangers because we befriended one." Paul crossed his arms while his mouth talked in pout but with no bite. "Hey! I'm not a stranger anymore! I don't harm people unless—" "Alright, alright. Let's not argue anymore. We better start playing again since the sky will get dark soon." cut Kuya Danny. "Now, Harper and Paul. I hope you get along well." "Me, too! Me, too!", squealed Cindy. Cindy's excitement seemed to affect to both Harper and Paul, for they slightly smiled at her. Minutes later, we resumed our game of tag. Since Harper was a new friend, we made her the IT. At first, she was clueless on how to play it because according to her, she seldom left her house and whenever she had the chance to go out, she'd just spend hours picking flowers and strolling around nature or bonding with her mother in their farm. Aside from tag, we also played Langit-Lupa (Heaven-Hell) and explained to her the rules. It was a game which was a bit similar to tag but with a twist; the IT would act as the devil on land while the others would find an elevated ground to go to, which was referred to as the heaven. Players were only given five seconds to stay on a certain elevated ground before the devil could access that part, so they would move location from time to time. "I like this game a lot, Ate Janine! This reminds me of someone but he might be mad when I told him about this.", Harper snickered as she changed her place. "What was it again, Harper? Sorry I couldn't fully hear what was just said. Who is that someone and what's it about?" I told her while I was busy catching my breath. "Nothing, ate. I just find this game really fun.", a ray of sunlight hit her face right when she smiled so wide, accentuating the glow on her face. I once again thought that her parents must be very beautiful since their child was really cute. Hours passed by and Paul's indifference to Harper gradually faded. They talked a bit while we were trying to rest after playing different games. We played and played until we got tired and rested again under the tree. It was nearing dusk when Harper spoke. "Oh, look at the time! It's going to be dark soon, I should make my way home." Kuya Danny offered to escort her home since she was about Cindy's and Paul's age, but she immediately declined. "No need, kuya. But if it's okay, can I go through the old gate in the garden again? That way, I could reach my house in no time." "Are you sure you don't want Kuya Danny's help? You never know if someone is gonna kidnap you, you know..." Paul insisted his opinion about strangers again, but this time, it was out of concern for Harper's safety. "Thank you for all your concern but there's really no need. My h— I mean my brother taught me how to go back in our house by myself so I was really used to it. And no one would try to harm me. Ever.", crossing her heart cutely. "O...kay. Just stay safe and don't let your guard down, alright?" I said as we walked with her toward the garden. "Yes, ate. Thank you. Uhm... you can stop at this point. I will go on the other gate on my own. Your parents must be looking for you now." Harper stated when we reached the front gate of the garden. "Yikes! I said to mama that I will only play for a bit then go take a nap after it! What should I tell her, Kuya Danny?", brought out Cindy who was biting her thumb. "Don't worry, Cindy. We'll just tell tita that we didn't notice the time since we're having a lot of fun.", reassured Kuya Danny. "Okay." "See? You should go now. I'll go once you enter the house. I'll make sure to close both gates when I leave, so no stranger could get Paul." she whispered the last phrase to me which made me chuckle and directly looked at Paul. "Will you be here again tomorrow, Harper?" Cindy asked shyly. "I don't know... but is it okay if I play with you again tomorrow?" She searched our eyes to see if we agree. "You don't need to ask us, Harp. You're already our friend and I think of you as my little sister already.", answered Kuya Danny as he patted Harper's head. "Really?" "Really. Now, we better get going. Bye, Harper!" "B-bye, Harper!" stuttered Paul before he ran real fast toward the ancestral house. His gesture made Harper laughed. "Bye!", she waved us goodbye then flashed her bright smile. Later that night, us cousins recounted our fun-filled afternoon to our parents during dinner. We told them that we made a new friend but left the part about Harper using the gate since they might scold us; they seemed happy about it but were not really glad when they saw how sweaty we were.

Harper came back the day after we first met her, just like she had promised. Harper easily became closer to us as days passed by. For four days straight, we stuck to our routine; played various games, rested under the tree and talked nonsense, then ran around again until our feet became sore. During our timeout, Harper loved to tell us information about her favorite flowers namely rose, crocus, violet, iris, lily and larkspur. She would not leave any small detail about those go unmentioned, which was really impressive for a little girl. We would sometimes enter the garden upon her request, that was if she got too absorbed on telling tales about it and would go from one plant to another. We never dismissed her chatter because she really seemed fond of it, and we thought it was really interesting, too. We got to discover that most of her favorite flowers can be found inside our lola's garden, and that to us were such a pretty amazing coincidence. Harper, too, would always bid goodbye when the sky turned into twilight and would always use the old gate to return to her house. During our fifth afternoon with Harper, Paul asked her if we could visit her house in return while we were resting under the Acacia tree. Harper suddenly sprang up from her seat and looked surprised. "As much as I would love to, Paul, you certainly can't. My h—brother is not that friendly, like I am, and you might get lost andyoumightneverreturnonceyougowithme...", she uttered the last part so quick and in a whisper manner that we didn't get to understand it. "But I think it would be okay if we get permission from your mother, right? You said that she's a lovely lady who loves you the most.", it was Cindy who proposed the said idea. "Yes, my mother would love meeting you all but that would be a lost case since she doesn't live with us there and she's busy with her farm. Please don't be sad if you can't come into my house. There's really no point... unless you're already gone..." she looked down. "Already gone...? What?", my eight-year-old self could not comprehend what Harper was saying. "N-nevermind, now. At least we get to play in front of your beautiful garden every afternoon, right? Plus, you said that tomorrow will be your last day in here. It'll be a waste if you try and go to my house.", she reasoned. "We just wanted to visit your house, that's all..." Paul shyly insisted. "Enough. If Harper said that we shouldn't visit her house, then we won't visit at all. Let's not make her uncomfortable and let's just play and play since tomorrow is our last day. Is that okay?", as usual, nine-year-old Kuya Danny knew what words to say for us to agree among each other. "Okay." After the said conversation, we resumed playing until the sky was getting darker and Harper needed to come back home once more. We were walking toward the front of the garden when Harper suddenly turned around. "Cindy, Paul, Kuya Danny, Ate Janine, thank you for playing with me. It was really fun learning all those games and being with you. It's been awhile since I've made a friend and had this much fun on this side. Thank you a lot!", she then launched a surprise group hug which made us stumbling onto the ground. "Thank you, too, Harp. It's not only you who were having fun. We did, too. And, please. Don't sound like we won't see each other again. We still have tomorrow, right?" "...right.", back then, we never noticed the bittersweet smile that Harper painted on her face.

Morning came and we were asked by the elderly to help tidy up the house since we were leaving later that night. Though the said house had numbers of caretaker, my family believed that we should still help maintaining the beauty of the place as our passed on loved ones did it by themselves. By the time that we finished packing and cleaning, we quickly ate our lunch then ran straight to the Acacia tree to wait for Harper and spend our last day with her. An hour had passed but Harper didn't show up. We waited for her a bit more but decided to go at the old gate when some moments passed. When we opened the front gate of the garden, we noticed that all the flowers looked like they're shining and in in their most blooming form, most of the flowers which were in different kind of beauty were Harper's favorites. While we were in awe, Cindy's mother, Tita Sally, called our attention who just came out of the house. "Are you playing inside the garden this time, guys?", she inquired. "No, mama. We're about to go to the old gate to wait for Harper.", Cindy replied. "Wait for who? And why wait on that gate?", Tita Sally seemed intrigued and confused at the same time. "Wow. These flowers are extra beautiful today. The gardener must be so busy tending it.", she added as she walked toward us. "Tita, remember the girl we mentioned last time who became our friend? Her name's Harper.", Kuya Danny explained to her and we nodded along. "Oh, your new friend! But why wait on this old gate, then? Is this your meeting place? You should wait under the tree instead." . "No, tita. Harper will be coming through this gate. Her house is on the other side and she always use this gate to come here." With Paul's words, Tita Sally's eyes grew big and she seemed really shocked. "What are you talking about, Paul? How will a girl live there when it's just an empty vast land for centuries? You kids! Are you playing tricks on your tita? It's not funny and totally not scary at all. C-cindy! Help mama finish packing our things. Hurry!", she stormed out of the garden. "Y-yes, mama.", Cindy looked confused with her mother's action but followed her anyway. Kuya Danny, Paul, and I were left standing in front of the old gate, still processing what our tita just told us. "...what did Tita Sally say?", I asked them but received no reply since both of them seemed shaky just like I was. "I... I don't understand. Why would Tita Sally say those things when Harper clearly told us that she lived behind this gate. And what about the other side being an empty land?", Kuya Danny paced back and forth like a little detective, but a coward one since his voice was shaking when he said that while avoiding to look past the old gate. "Ate...kuya...l-look.", hearing Paul's voice, we looked on where his gaze was focused on. He was really near the old gate and seemed to be peeking. We went near him and tried to peek, too. What we saw behind the gate was nothing but big land with few grasses and some trees. No houses were visible. The only sound that can be heard was the chirping of birds and rustling of the spring wind. I was getting scared bit by bit, and I felt that they were too, when Kuya Danny spoke. "Maybe Harper's house can't be seen from this distance. Maybe we should go take a look ourselves." "B-but Kuya Danny, Harper said that we shouldn't visit her house. His brother won't like it.", Paul added. "I know. But we'll just said bye to her if she doesn't want to play. We won't technically go inside her house but call her name outside of it. That, if we can find it.", kuya sounded like he was convincing himself. "O-kay. Since it's just 2:30 in the afternoon, we could try finding her house, I guess.", I said. Paul found the idea crazy but agreed anyway. After agreeing with the plan, I started to pull the gate but it won't budge. I asked for their help but the gate can't be opened and just made a creaking sound which hurt our ears, making us stop. "Stupid gate," muttered Paul as he slumped on the ground, looking resigned. But not long after he had sat, he suddenly got up. "How can we open this ugly gate if it's locked in the first place!", he pointed at the lock which was place a bit lower, making us not notice it out of our panic earlier. "Wait. When was this gate locked? I thought this was never locked?", my curiosity was running wild. Manong Gil, the gardener, was entering the garden with his tools, when we were busy figuring things out. "Hey, kids. What are you doing there?", putting his gardening tools down, he approached us. "Nothing, Manong Gil. By the way, manong, did you perhaps lock this gate last night or earlier?", Kuya Danny probed. "No, Danny. I didn't lock it.", Manong Gil replied. "If you didn't lock it, then who did it?" I added. "Well, I did locked it but not last night or earlier. I locked it weeks ago when I finished decomposing the trash.", he seemed weirded out by our questions. "But...how?", Kuya Danny looked flabbergasted. We never got another reply from Manong Gil as we heard my mother’s voice coming from inside the house. "Danny! Janine! Paul! Come inside! In the living room! Now!" shouted my mother. (to be continued...)

#short story #the gate #fiction #childhood story #friendship #stories #post-halloween story #garden

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