Beyond the Gate

Hand in hand brother and sister ran out the door to play. Mother told them not to play too close to the gate and they must never, ever go through it. She always told them that, never saying why.
As the days passed they ventured closer and closer to the gate until they were caught and scolded.
“I’ve told you a thousand times,” she yelled.
But why, they implored. Nothing ever happened.
She looked terribly sad and scared. “Bad things have happened,” she spoke softly, her voice shaky. How could she explain? They wouldn’t listen. Saying only bad things was far too vague. “People… Children have gone missing.”
“Lost?” her daughter asked wide eyed.
“Yes, lost,” she answered, hoping that would be enough. But it wasn’t for her son, the elder.
“I won’t get lost! I know the way all around town,” he puffed up with pride.
So she told them. “It’s not that sort of lost, my son.” She put her hand on his cheek. “They are taken.”
Her daughters already wide eyes expanded. “Taken? By who?”
“Demons.”
“There’s no such thing as demons,” her son challenged.
“But there is.”
“With lots of arms and legs and big teeth?” her daughter whispered.
She had to laugh. “No, child. They look almost like you and me.” Then her mood turned dark once more. “But there are all different kinds of monsters.”



Weeks passed and they didn’t venture near the gate, though the boy denied it had to do with fear. It was only so his sister would not get in trouble.
“Why would I get in trouble?”
“Because you’re slow and would get caught. And if there are any demons they would eat out your eyes and suck out your soul!” He laughed at her look of fright.
She lashed out at him open palmed. “Shut up! I would run faster than any nasty demon.”
“It doesn’t matter anyway. We won’t be going.”
She silently played with her rag doll while he cut long grass with a stick sword he had made. She called his name and he turned.
“Have you ever seen it?”
“What? The gate?”
She nodded.
“Of course,” he said proudly.
She looked up in surprise. “What does it look like?”
“You know when there’s a dark room and you look through the doorway? But imagine the doorway is made from smoke.”
“Smoke?” she said frowning.
“It’s hard to explain. You have to see it to understand.” She looked at him expectantly. “No! We promised mother.”
But they went anyway.
Through the woods they crept until they were at a giant tree and he instructed her to quietly creep around it until they could see.
It shimmered in the air as it came into view, a solid looking floating shape that appeared flat.
And something was emerging.
He took her hand and ran, wishing he’d listened to their mother.
Behind them they heard heavy pounding and they increased speed as they hit a clearing in the trees but the hammering grew nearer. He pulled her aside and they dove into dense scrub and he instructed her to be silent.
She cupped her hands over her mouth as her ragged breathing rushed in her ears and then she held it as they saw the demon enter the copse and it stood there looking about, muttering unintelligibly.
The demon turned its face toward them with bared, wide, yellow, flat teeth. It was covered in strange skins and its flesh was a pale, pinkish beige, its head covered with a bushy fur. It looked in their direction with its evil whitish eyes and the girl started causing the bushes to move.
They ran screaming.



The man watched as the two naked, red skinned, horned devils escaped from the bushes, looking back at him with their evil, black eyes. They ran toward a bizarre architectured town in the distance.
Somehow he had fallen into hell and he must find a way back to the safety of Earth.