Gates by Kenneth Gavilan
A flash of light that seeped through the window, a sunrise of scarlet red and bright yellow. A beautiful morning amongst the crowded brick jungle, the light slipping into the city’s roads, illuminating the vehicles that drove. It was loud, people were rushing to get to their destinations, yet it was a peaceful, normal day. But this was not Earth, at least not the Earth we know. A rumble began to shake the air, the city sirens began to shriek, the sky had turned a velvet purple, there was panic on the streets, everyone rushing, shoving each other to get away. Then the sky began to crack, then from the deepest cracks it shattered. Peering into the cracks, dark crimson swirls and disordered space were seen, it looked as deep as the ocean and as vast as space. With the rift in the sky and a hollow city, not a sound from the now empty streets but a pitter patter of someone walking, tip tap tip tap. It seems that the city was not empty, a sole person walked amongst the sidewalk, not a care in the world. Was he deaf ? Did he not hear the Sirens? Is he blind? Did he not see the people running? The rift began to shake the sky once more, but erupted in light and sound, what had seemed to be an endless void became a raining jungle, silhouettes of terrors began to peer out of the rift. Why wasn’t he running? Why wasn’t he afraid of such hideous beasts? They rained from the sky, filling the hollow city with their shrieks and pattering of feet. Bloodlusted and crazed, they led a path of sheer destruction. Yet this man did not budge; he continued walking. The sound of shrieks and running drew closer and closer to the man. Then suddenly, the sounds of shrieks and feet had stopped, hideous green creatures, as small as children and as smelly as a dumpster had laid in front of the man anticipating their pounce on him. Loud screams, groans of agony, the tearing of flesh, the cracking of bones, then silence. The streets now littered with corpses of monsters, the rift overhead began to close and the sky faded from a velvet purple back to a sky blue. The city filled with people once more 173
