The Gates.

By Sam Baker-Gentry.

I dedicate this book to Google Docs. Without it, this would have been a lot harder.

Maple Leaf Book Writing Project

Brattleboro, Vermont

Copyright 2013

The Gates

By: Sam Baker-Gentry

Chapter 1: The Dark.

I awoke to darkness. I shouted out into the dark to see if I was alone, “Helllllllllooooooo!?” No answer. Well, I’m not asleep I thought. And then I heard faintly in the distance,

“Dang it; not again!” I started to hear, well, more like feel something come near me.

“I could have guessed,” said the voice.

“Wait, what? I can’t see,” I groaned. SMACK!!! “OW!” I hollered.

“Now can you see?” quizzed the voice.

“Well; uh, yeah.” Once the pain went away, I realized that I could see, but I wasn’t exactly happy with what I saw.

I was in a cave. With rocks and dust everywhere, it wasn't exactly a comforting setting. I looked around saw the “Voice.” It was a girl about sixteen. She saw that I could see and asked me, “You, how old are you?” “Uh…I .. a…” I realized I had no idea what my age was! “I don’t really know.” I admitted.

“Your name? That is in the event you're not completely clueless!” She chuckled.

Good, I knew this one! “Marcus, Marcus Tirving.”

“Good. You’re not a complete dunce like some I’ve met.”

“And your name, perchance?” I said sarcastically.

“Kimi Tomogawa. Age seventeen. Come with me,” Kimi said suddenly. I started to follow her mainly because I had nothing to do here.

Chapter 2: The City.

She took me across many pale barren fields and at one point I thought I could see a city a ways off in the distance. “Hey, Kimi, is that a city, or am I just crazy?” I asked.

“Well, you are crazy, but yeah, that is a city, and the place we happen to be going. That humongous skyscraper in the center to be precise,” she said, quite matter of factly.

I tried to sit down to rest. Nothing happened. I looked down and was very surprised. I stopped and asked Kimi, “Um…Kimi, where are our legs?”

“Huh? Oh. We haven’t had legs ever, stupid. I guess you’ve been too half asleep to notice anything, you dimwit.”

“I notice things!” I argued.

“Well then, what kind of animals are we surrounded by right now?” she asked.

“Uhhh…I can’t identify whatever the heck they are.” I confessed.

“They’re cows, half brain,” she snapped.

Well, I guess they kind of looked like cows, you know, floating cows with no legs.

Chapter 3: Reasons.

We started to get closer to the city when I asked, “Kimi, why are we going to the city anyhow?”

“The only person who can help you is in that giant skyscraper.”

“And how do you know about this person?” I quizzed.

“You don’t need to know anymore than you do now.” she said in a worried tone.

After “walking” some more, I decided to ask another question. “Well, if you won’t tell me that, then can you at least tell me what you were doing before you found me?” I inquired.

“I was looking for spare change in the rocks when I heard something and it made me drop the money I was collecti- you don’t need to know what I need money for,” she said suspiciously.

“But why did you say, ‘Could have guessed?’”

“Because more and more kids are turning up dead. ” I gaped at her statement. “Oops.”

Chapter 4: Truth.

“Dead?!” I screamed. “Why haven't you told me?!” She seemed shocked, but slightly uncaring. Everything was quiet for about a minute. Then, Kimi broke the silence.

“You seemed like the kind of guy who wouldn’t want to know that kind of thing, I guess.”

“Who would want to know!?” I hollered. If I was dead, wouldn’t that mean that Kimi was dead too? “Are you dead too?” I asked.

“Yessiree, I too, am dead, but it doesn't really matter,” she said, unphased by my yelling.

“Why doesn’t it matter?”

“Cause, I don’t care. We have to get some sleep.” I was shocked but eventually calmed myself down and laid down and as I drifted off, I wondered; “If I’m dead, then how am I here?”

When I woke I could smell smoke. “Uh, Kimi? I smell something.” She was still fast asleep. I had to wake her up. I shook her until she finally opened one eye, closed it, and barked,

“Shut up, I’m sleeping!”

I was concerned. The smell was increasing now, and I was amazed at how Kimi could sleep through the fumes. She started coughing, and put in an effort to sit up. “I’m up, I’m up, calm down, and tell me what's going on.”

“Theres lots of smoke, and its coming from over that hill!” We ran up the hill and were shocked by what we saw.

Chapter 5: Explanation.

We were closer to the city when we went to sleep than we thought, and we saw the city up close, when it was burning and falling to the ground. “Kimi!” I shouted “I am not moving from this spot until you tell me everything!” I was serious. I could handle the no legs and the floating, but this, this was downright scary.

“You know too much already!” Kimi said.

“I need to know! It’s hard enough knowing I’m dead, but this is chaotic!”

“Fine, you wanna know? Here I'll tell you! Now, there are seven dimensions. The first three are combined and make up the place we were when we were alive. When we die, our spirits pass through the fourth dimension, which is like a gateway to the last three dimensions. The fifth dimension is where we are now. The sixth dimension is where we can can truly rest in peace. The seventh is like a hellish version of dimension six. If you die in the fifth dimension, you go to the seventh. The only thing can take us to the sixth dimension is the 6D-Gate invented by the person in the skyscraper I was talking about. He created three gates, one in each giant building across this dimension. The gates are designed to only let you through if your soul is pure, because if the sixth dimension had bad people like here, the sixth dimension would be no better than the fifth. I would have gone through by now, but the gate doesn't find my soul to be pure. I thought if I helped someone go through, the gate would find me pure. I needed the money because I would need some disguises to get through the skyscraper security. That’s the only stuff I know, happy!?” By now the smoke had started to clear and the city was rubble. To tell the truth, I wasn't really that happy.

Chapter 6: The Other Two

I had a hard time taking this in. If the gate was destroyed, how would I get to the sixth dimension? “Kimi?” I said. “How will I get to the sixth dimension?”

“The other two gates would work, but they're miles away. We need a fast way to travel.” “How ‘bout a floaty cow?” It was a stupid idea, but the first to pop into my head.

“That... is one of the STUPIDEST IDEAS I've ev... actually, that could work.

It felt good to know my idea was appreciated, but after seeing all that rubble, the feeling didn't last long. Kimi’s face lit up.

“I have a plan!!!” Her holler was louder than usual, and I could hear it echo through the broken buildings.

“What is it?”

“Follow me!” She bolted through the cement, zig-zagging everywhere, it seemed like she was trying to get me lost. “Found it!”

“Found what?!”

“The shop! This shop had lots of food in it-”

“But we don't need to eat here, right?”

“Right, but the person that lived here wanted to live like they did back on earth, and made lots of food. My plan is to get on one of those cows, and dangle some food in front of its face, and direct it wherever we want it to go. It’ll go a lot faster than we can walk.”

We had walked back to the plains, and spotted a sturdy looking cow. Kimi distracted it with the food while I climbed onto it’s back. Kimi climbed on second, and sat in front of me to steer. We started off, back towards the city, so Kimi could tell which direction to go. The smoke at the city was completely gone, but that just made it easier to see the destruction. Kimi scouted around, and seemed content with the direction she picked. “Onward Cow!” Kimi bellowed. We bounded across fields and saw more cows, very surprised to see a fellow cow move at such speed.

Chapter 7: The Second Skyscraper.

We saw a small house break across horizon, followed by more, and eventually another skyscraper, similar to the one in the first city.

“Is the second gate in that building?” I pointed at the skyscraper.

“Yes it is,and precisely the place we are going.” She put more food in her hands to make the cow go faster. Soon we had entered the city, and I finally saw other humans other than me or Kimi. They all seemed very gloomy, my guess is that they just found out about the city, from what I heard from their whispers.

“I saw it with my own eyes!”

“Did you hear?”

“I heard it was terrible!”

“I saw a boy running away from the carnage!”

“The explosion could be heard for miles!”

“What if it happens to us next?!” They looked up from their whispers, surprised to see two children riding a cow down the streets of the city.

We arrived in front of the skyscraper, and had to strain our necks just to see halfway up. Kimi hopped off the cow and I followed after. She gave the food to the cow, and it soon ate it all, and mooed contently as it floated slowly towards the fields outside the city, filled with its cow brethren. I yelled my thanks to the cow, and hurriedly followed Kimi through the gigantic doors.

Chapter 8: The Gate.

The inside of the skyscraper was huge, fancy, and bright. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling; people in suits were floating to and fro; and shining lights pointed at chandeliers, making shards of light dance across the walls.

We soon floated up thirty flights of stairs. We stood in front of a giant door. Imprinted in gold, 4B. Through the cracks, I saw a green gloomy aura of light. It seemed like everything was in slow-motion. Through that door could be peace. Eternal peace. Kimi opened the door. The gate was tall, green, and flashing. Covered in lights, I could hardly see.

“Well,” I said, “this is it.”

Kimi beckoned me towards the gate. I start to shake, but then I realised, it wasn't just me.

Chapter 9: Kazic.

The building was collapsing! The floor split, and I could feel us slowly falling. The green light of the portal flickered, then went out as the portal’s frame cracked.

“Kimi! Jump over here, towards the door!”

Kimi leaped over the growing crack in the floor, and followed me out the door. We floated down the stairs, aware of the ever-increasing tilt of the building. We got down to about the sixth floor, when we saw that the stairs were demolished, no hope of making it down this way. We ran through many rooms, avoiding other panicking people.

“The stairs over there are out, follow us!” I yelled. Soon we had developed a small posse, following our every movement.

We found our way to the other side of the building, and saw a sign, almost destroyed.

STAIRS --->

We followed the sign, floated down the (thankfully whole) stairs, and made our way into the lobby, greeted by a terrible sight. The chandelier had fallen, flooding the floor with broken glass, the tables were upturned, and the room was slowly caving in as I watched. There was a boy, about my age, who was floating in the middle of the destruction. He was covered in soot, had an evil kind of smile, and was holding what seemed to be a time-bomb.

“I’m Kazic. See you around,” and he zoomed out the door. Kimi and the rest of us floated out of the lobby, and the other people split of towards their homes, leaving me and Kimi to wonder what Kazic had to do with the explosion.

Chapter 10: The Return of the Cows.

We needed a way to get to the third city. I thought about walking, but if the destruction that happened here and in the first city happened there, we wouldn’t get there in time. Then it occurred to me! Cows! Me and Kimi could each take a cow and zoom to the city, before it could explode. I told my idea to Kimi, and soon we were off, gliding through the fields. I soon saw a mountain, the first I had seen while we were here.

“Kimi,” I said, as we were floating through a prairie, “is the city over that mountain, or on top of it?” I wondered, not being able to see the top, as it was surrounded by clouds.

“Its on the top,” she said, seeming as disappointed as I was, knowing we would have to climb all

the way up.

We stopped at the base of the mountain. I looked up. I still couldn't see the top. We gave the cows their shares of food, and sent them off on their way. We started to float up the mountain. I stared down at the ground, glad I didn't have to step on the jagged rocks.

Chapter 11: The Temple.

After hours of floating up the mountain, we entered the clouds. They were soft, silky, and unlike anything else in this world. The only downside about them, was that it was incredibly hard to see. We spent hours in the clouds, and at one point, I think we were going down. I finally saw a light through the mist. I told Kimi, and we rushed towards it. Once we left the clouds, we saw what the lights were. It was unlike anything I had ever seen, at least in this dimension. It was a temple. Carvings engraved in the walls that looked like us with legs. Kimi dragged me away from the engravings depicting the building of the temple. We found the entrance, and went through the giant gates. The inside was just as interesting as the outside, if not more. The walls were lined with tapestries, the floors with ornate rugs, and the ceiling had a magnificent mosaic. I stared in awe as Kimi dragged me along. We found a huge painted door covered in jewels. The familiar green glow emitted from the crack under door. Despite their size, the doors swung open effortlessly when I pushed it.

The gate was standing there, identical in looks to the one in the skyscraper. I stepped towards the glow, feeling comforted that Kazic was nowhere in sight. I felt like Kimi should go first, as she had helped me all this way. I motioned for Kimi to go first, but she just smiled and refused. “After you, I insist,” she said sarcastically. I couldn't refuse. I walked slowly to the gate, beckoned by its warmth. I stuck my hand in. It felt like hot jello. I started to float the rest of my body in, when I felt a rumbling. I floated out of the portal, and was taken aback as the giant door exploded and a figure floated through the wreckage. It was Kazic. He seemed to have even more soot on his face, I noticed, as he waded through the broken stone.

“Move aside boy, or you’ll go down with it.” Kazic said, as I eyed the grenade’s in his belt.

“Why are you so intent on destroying the gates?” I asked.

“Kimi can tell you,” he said happily.

“Kimi? How would Kimi know?”

“I’ll tell you for her, if she’s too scared to tell you herself. Kimi has tried the purity plan before, with another person. She took the person to the gate, intent on becoming pure, but the person she took wasn't pure themselves. She never got the person in the gate, and never became pure herself, and suddenly left the person she “supposedly” wanted to help.” While this story was being told, Kimi was having a more and more guilty looking face every minute. Kazic continued with his story. “That person was me! She left me, and went off, to try her plan on someone else! The reason I want to destroy the gates is so that Kimi will never feel peace, as I never will. If I have to, neither will you.”

“Marcus! He’s lying! After he was denied, he left to destroy the gates! I wandered away and found you! Please trust me!” I felt confused. Who should I trust? Before I could come to a conclusion, Kimi acted.