Category: Road to Nowhere

Nathan sat straight up. Someone was coming.

Night had fallen and there wasn’t much moon light. The forest trees blocked what little light escaped through the clouds. His eyes finally got used to the dark and he could see that Sarah was already awake. He crouched next to her and they waited. There were figures coming from down the hill wearing dark robes with their hoods up. There looked to be three of them, all walking in a single line. They moved so quietly that he had only known they were there because Sarah pointed them out.

Both Nathan and Sarah were excited. They were finally going to make it through the Watergate.

The figures stopped in front of the gate. One of them, the one from the middle, moved his hands around the rusty edges of the wide gate. He stepped back and the three waited.

A few tense moments past, then the gate started to move. The top split into two pieces and slowly creaked open while the bottom half inched its way to the ground. It reminded Nathan of a cottage door only gross and fashioned out of iron. The gate stopped moving and the first and last figure walked through. The middle one, the one who opened the gate remained outside.

Once the two were through the gate began to close. Nathan started to panic. He wanted to run and slide in before the gate closed all the way but wasn’t sure how the hooded figure would react. Sarah must have known what was going through Nathan’s mind. She rested her hand on Nathan’s shoulder and whispered “Wait.”

They waited. The middle figure left and headed back up the hill. Once he was far enough away the two crept out of the woods and examined the gate.

Nathan looked at the omnious gate. It was a lot bigger than he expected. But then, it was a flood gate and it had to withstand a lot of pressure. It was to big for him to open. He had to find a way to get it open so that he and Sarah could cross through it. He looked at Sarah. She was smiling her really happy smile.

“It won’t work,” Nathan said

Sarah relied still smiling, “of course it will.”

Nathan sighed. He knew it would. It was a bizarre and crazy enough plan that he knew it would work. He looked back from Sarah and into the woods. They were both smiling now. They didn’t go far into the woods before stopping and turning.

“Is this far enough?” Nathan questioned.

“Yeah.”

And there they waited. They waited for a long time.

Night fell and a cool breeze picked up through the woods from Nathan and Sarah lay waiting. The moon was just a sliver in the sky, but it was a wide sliver. It hung over the woods like a grimising smile, as if it knew what would come that night. Nathan started to get worried. He knew that they couldn’t stay out much later, but they needed to get behind the gate. Nathan lay in the grass listening to the gentle sound on of the crickets and the wind.