THE GATE KEEPER

by JULES GABRIEL

  He could not let it go.

  He watches Mat and his adoptive father through his room’s window as they leave in a luxury black car.

  ‘Michael! Michael! Wake up! Time to go to school!’ his mother’s voice echoed from downstairs.

  ‘I’m awoke mom.’

  The teenager grabs his bag and file. He ran down stairs. He head for the main door.

  ‘Michael, you’ve forgotten your pack lunch.’ His mother said.

  Michael came to a halt and turn to his mother who came out of the spacious kitchen from his left. Mrs Molly Reed hands over the pack lunch to her son.

  ‘I’ve got your favourite which is a sandwich. An apple and a packet of mango juice are what you’re shall be having as extra with it.’

  He stares at his mother for a while as she walks towards her with his pack lunch. Michael thought of what she had said. The clue for the sandwich click and he knew what it was. Slice Bread with lettuce, tomatoes and tuna in mayonnaise.

  The sound of her stiletto’s shoes echoed the kitchen as she walks towards her son. Molly had let her hair down, done her face up and match it with her clothes. Matching her shoes she wore a skirt of Red hemline. A manageress dressed for a kill. Her employee had described her as the devil in disguised as she could fire those that mess up.

  He knew how her mother can be when things doesn’t turn out the way she want. She would go out of her way to make it happen. Michael had overheard her discussing her reaction to the negativity from work and he had come to terms that he had inherit the determined character from her mother. She never gave up no matter how hard the obstacles she came across.

  ‘Thanks mom, but I’m not a kid anymore.’

  ‘Aren’t we all? after we start wiping our mess by our self. You’ll still be my little boy even when you’re married. Remember you’re not yet a man.’

  ‘I’m seventeen years old mum. Old enough to be a man....’

  ‘No, my son, old enough to be a teenager and though you’re going to be a young man next year, you still got a lot to learn. Oh, and you’re still going to be my little Michael.’

  Michael grabs the brown pack lunch from her mother, gives her a peck on her chick and says, ‘Thanks mum.’

  He walks away, towards the main door.

  ‘Michael.’

  He turns around.

  ‘To be successful you got to be the best and being the best is all about hard work. Nothing comes easy in life if you don’t devote yourself to a positive and successful disciplinary ideology, you’ll fall. This world isn’t a fairy tale but a materialised one and everybody are accountable for their own action. ’

  He walks backward to the main door. With the file underneath his arm pit and his school bag on his back he raises his right hand up. ‘Bye mum and thanks for the tip,’ he said.

  Michael took note of her mother’s words of wisdom. He knew that she wanted him to take life seriously and not for granted. A goal they both shared as mother and son. Reaching the zenith of his height to honour the unforeseen goal was a struggle.

  He turns to the main door and make a light jog through it to a sport’s bike parked in the alley way. The teenage boy got on it. He takes the head gear off the bike’s engine and rest it on his lap. Michael thought of his mother’s words of wisdom. Successful disciplinary ideology, he thought as he watches at his mother staring at him through the kitchen window.

  A discipline ideology isn’t necessarily a successful one.

  It’s the way we mend it to our advantage that we achieve or fail our goal…

  I prefer to mend mine…

  I shall mend mine and I will be victorious.

  I want rest….Till I become the best.

  He thought of the successful Phil which he had forced himself to befriend with. He thought of the hard work he had to put in to know him and to learn how to be better than him. His anger built in but he hides it. Phil was the only little cockroach in my way, he thought.

  He smiles and wave at Molly. Start the bike’s engine. He wears his helmet. Michael roves the engine twice. Then he rides out to the main road and head for the school.

  I managed to reach the school on time. Most students did their own thing. Some came on the school bus, some in their own vehicles while some walk the few metres like me. Some were in groups and some came solo. We all head for the main college door.

  As I closed in the crowd of students I became noticeable. A boy dress in a grey hoody top and track suit bottom join the crowd. He raises his V shape fingers in the air towards me. I immediately return the same gesture to demonstrate peace. I walk the stairs up to the main door of the college through an endless traffic of students. We all walk in with the flow.

  Inside the flow of some of the crowds slightly change while some reverse the other way round to accommodate their time table. The class rooms began to fill in. I walk by a group of young ladies. I couldn’t resist the temptation of not looking at them. They whisper with each other as I walk near them.

  One of them caught my attention. She was a pretty teenage girl with the figure of an eighteen year old model. She seductively plays with her long and dark hair as she stares at me. I glance at her attractive and short cheer leader’s skirt which matched perfectly with her tight top.

  Her friends was dress in a similar fashion but of distinguish colours. How I wished that she was mine.

  ‘Phil…’ Hailey said in a sarcastic and seductive voice.

  All of her four friends wink at me at the same time. I became puzzle. I look into her beautiful brown eyes but I remind myself of her special treatment. I had hated her for what she had done to me in the past but yet part of me was still craving for the love I could never had. Her love was all I had ever wanted. Hope and patience became my best friend. Maybe she’ll change I convince myself like I had always done.

  I bump my head into something and I fall back. Laughter echoes the hallways and I immediately stand up. I had always been nervous around the ladies.

  ‘You better watch where you going Phil as you never know who you might bump into.’ Hailey sarcastically said.

  Then Hailey and her friends left as they giggle and gave out uncontrollable laugh. In front of me the tallest and biggest teenager, stands in my way. It was Tony and he was one big block. For a teenager he had the body of an adult body builder. He was a bully who psychologically and physically torments the weak ones. Keeping up appearance through an audience was his priority.

  ‘Yes, you better watch where you going pal.’ Tony grimly joked in the light of his audience.

  Nobody laugh but instead most kept quiet and remain attentive.

  His face was mean and fills with anger. I try to evade him by walking the opposite way but he blocks my way with his gang of five footballers from the college team. His football buddies were quite the same height as me.

  He points his finger at me and said. ‘You got some nerve to stare at my girlfriend. Keep away, I’m warning you. Next time you stare or talk to her I will smash you to the ground! Moron like you does not deserve someone like her.’

  ‘Listen butt head, one, I can stare at anyone I want. Two, there’s no law that prevent me from speaking to anyone, especially her, just because you think you own her.’ I fired back.

  Tony immediately closed his fist firmly and cocks it all the way near his face. Two of his friends grab him by his massive fore arms before he had a chance to release the blow. Another two seize the other hand while the last one dress in gothic style tries to calm him down.

  ‘Tony, it’s not the right place. Coach is in.’ His friend Joey said as he turn his head and face the main door down the hall.

  ‘Ok I’m cool, let me go.’ Tony said as he stares hard over my shoulder through the group of students he had brought to a halt.

  I look at them waiting and preparing my defence. I was ready for it. My training had always prepared me to take control of the action and defuse it.

  Tony walks backward with his team of tugs. He points h
is fist to his face and point a finger at me. Then he point two fingers towards his eyes and point it at me. I walk in the same direction as I was meant to go towards him and to my locker.

  The bullies push on through the crowds who disperse in the hall. Coach Larson walk among the crowd without realising what had happened. I had been warned I thought. The first sign from Tony was that he’s going to smash my face. The second one, I could simply translate it as he is watching me closely.

  Michael was on time. He switches off the engine and the double main light. He removes his helmet and leaves it lock on the motor bike. He gets off the bike and head towards the mobile crowd of students at the main door. He force and bump his way through them. He didn’t want to talk to anyone nor get a chance to know them.

  The superficial teenager felt no need to spare his time of befriending anybody. He felt too good about himself. He was reaching the end of college and he was among the smartest kids in the school. Deep down, he felt physically as good as his academic skills. He would work hard for it, through endless of sleepless night, weeks before every tests and exams.

  As he walks through the crowd of students inside the college he sees Phil. He stops and stares at him. At that point he realise that he had made an exception. He had to break his own principles. He hated himself for doing so but it had to be done.

  His nemesis was a competent adversary. The sole obstacle that could has prevented his vision of a successive future. His desire to be the best had been motivated by his own tailor-made and disciplinary core values. Winning had always been his ultimate goal. He thought of himself as the fittest survivor. He had felt disgusted with himself lately.

  He walks with the flow of the crowd. Phil open his locker and Michael wait for him. He quietly rests his back against the other lockers nearby. Michael ignores the crowd passing by, turn and stare at Phil.

  I put my small day sack in my locker which was in front of me. I felt lucky enough to have been given one which was the right height for me. I close the locker after I was done. At the corner of my right eye I could see a blurry image of somebody I could not yet recognise.

  ‘You’re not going to run away from the trial are you?’ The teenage voice of a boy said.

  It made me feel quite jumpy but I hide my emotion. It felt creepy as he was sneaking without warning.

  ‘Jes… men, are you sneaking on me?’ I asked.

  ‘I wouldn’t if I knew that you’re not going to turn out with cold leg for the trial.’

  I lock the locker and respond sarcastically, ‘I shall definitely be there but don’t turn up with a heavy leg.’

  ‘Today we’ll definitely know who’s the fastest.’ Michael said.

  I walk towards the same way I came in for my class. He follows and I respond, ‘It’s not going to be about speed, it’s a one thousand metres race and it’s all about endurance. The question you should ask yourself Michael, is if you will be able to cope with the pace at a long period of time?’

  He rushes in front of me that I had to stop. He looks at me deep in my eyes and gives me a psychopathic face. Suddenly he point a finger at his temple and said in an upsetting voice, ‘It’s all in the head Phil.’

  ‘Relax man… just don’t take it too personal, after all it’s just a game.’

  He walks away and said ‘May the best sport man win. See you at PE then.’

  For a moment I wonder what has happened that he had to take everything so personal. Michael and I have known each other since we were kids but it’s only recently that we’ve become closer. A friendship which I could not fully comprehend as for him it all felt as if he was competing with the whole world.

  ‘Yes at PE then,’ I replied.

  I made a left turn for the closest class nearby and went for my early class which was Geography. I walk in and sit in my normal chair at the back of the middle row. A young pretty and blond female walks in. She walks towards me, smile at me and I return the gesture. She sits in front of me in the usual empty chair.

  Each class we all attend we had to sit in our allocated sit given by our teacher. It was how the teachers manage to remember our names. The empty chair and desk was taken for the first time after being emptied for months. The new girl nervously jolts both thigh and legs while awaiting for an introduction with Miss Harper, our Geography teacher.

  She was a stunner. I wanted to get to know her but her beauty made me felt speechless. Not just that she was gorgeous but because I felt that she was too pretty for me. She turns around. She gives me a flush look and produces a smile.

  The sign was there, come on say something… Just talk to her, my effusive conscience challenged. Inside I could no longer tolerate the childish shyness that had enslaved me in my own cocoon shell for so long. I had to come out of it. I have been hiding for too long. After a devastated humiliation which I received in front of the class from Hailey a few years back I had shut my world down.

  Speaking to the opposite sex has not been easy. Hailey had knock off my audacious confidence since the occurrence of that event. The existing phobia had taken over my life drastically. It was really harsh of her and I still had bad dreams about it. I could see most of them in convulsions of laughter. Some of them their face burst with overwhelm joy. For them I was a farce and making a mockery out of me was easy. They made me aware that she was out of my league. And I wasn’t meant for her. A loser and a geek was how she had portrayed me to the class.

  I’ve learned to accept the truth of reality, the hard way. This material world was all about the presentation. The way you portray yourself and look was one of them. As time pass by I realised that it wasn’t totally their fault. It’s what the media and adverts psychologically triggers them how to think unconsciously. For them I was in a dream world.

  The obese boy they once knew took a look at him in the mirror grew up and change. Miraculously he managed to sort himself out. For years I had proved all of them wrong. I need to know her, I have to talk to her or I’m gonna miss a chance of a lifetime which I may regret, I thought.

  ‘Hi, I’m Phil.’

  She turns around and said, ‘Hi, Samantha Burk.’

  ‘Wow.’

  ‘What?’ Samantha asked as she smiles.

  ‘For a minute I thought you wouldn’t talk to a guy like me.’ I said nervously.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I mean you’re, you’re….’ I faltered.

  She nods in respond, ‘yes?’

  ‘Hot and irresistible are the right words.’

  ‘Wow…., that was quick. I didn’t expect that on a first day at school.’

  ‘Well…., you got a fan.’ I said as I smile. She smile back and I respond, ‘Maybe, you could spare out some of your free time to your fan some of these coming few days….when…’

  There was a silence as we stare into each other’s eyes. I finally found the fortitude to execute my last sentence, ‘you’re not too busy.’

  Samantha produces an amazing friendly and jovial smile which set my heart on fire. Then she joyfully says, ‘do not push your luck.’

  ‘Is that a yes?’

  She turns in front and said, ‘I’ll think about it.’

  My face was filled with joy and happiness as I knew I had caught a fish. All I have to do is to be patient.

  Normal adrenaline of fear rushes through my veins as I laid one knee to the ground. Unusual nervousness of losing my pride kept me from losing hope. Six other athletes rest in the same positions and waiting for the sound of our coach’s gun. This was it, the best of the athletes from the college chosen to compete against each other so that the best of the best may represent the school for the final.

  Most of the athletes waited for their turn by watching the events they were not in. Non-athletes like Samantha who wanted to watch it sat under the grand stand. Others choose to record the events on their mobile and send it to those in the classrooms.

  One lap of the stadium was what we had to do for the trial. Best effort was what our coac
h was after. He blow the whistle and we all extend our kneeling leg into a straight position at a forty five angle from the red running turf while our hands give support to our upper body. I turn my head and face Michael on my far left. We were both far apart but he was staring at me. I was under the impression that he have been waiting for me to look at him.

  He sarcastically smiles at me, wink and quickly face forward. Then a sound of command we were waiting for came through the barrel of a small gun which was shot in the air. We all got off our hands with immense power from the help of our proper leg postures stuck with the metals attached to the track.

  We all start with the same, fast and vigorous flow of movements. I try to build up my momentum through a strategy method of conserving my energy. Behind me was a thin keen young marathon runner. Ahead of me were four good runners with Michael as the second leading runner. The first man was the muscly bully, Tony. Convinced he can win it he burns himself to the limit by speeding at the first turn.

  We all followed as if we were trying to catch him. I open my legs a bit while I control my breathing. Half way Michael overtook him and builds an unstoppable strategy. At that point I knew that I had to take control. Losing was not an option. I knew what I needed to do, Increase and step up the pace to get a grip of the speedy Michael or leave too much gap that would become impossible to overcome.

  The human train was at its height of speed. I run with the flow as if I was a back wagon being pulled. I open up my legs and increase the speed a bit more. It felt as if my legs were not touching the ground. I overtook the fifth man who displayed an emotion of fatigue on his face. Then I was closer to the fourth man who was half a metre away. This one, his breathing was all over the place. Soon he shows sign of surrendering his position in my favour.

  Ahead Michael led the way but I have to go through the third and second man. I inhale deep breath and exhale at a similar controllable rate. It had to be done to prevent early exhaustion. The human wagons scatters all over the place as we made the last turn for the last few metres to the finish line. Michael was approximately three hundred metres away.