THE GATE KEEPER

by JULES GABRIEL

  This was the point I knew would separate men from boys and winners to losers. I give my ultimate best by opening and moving my legs faster than I had done before. Sprinting I overtook the third man who was gasping for air due of exhaustion.

  Further challenge occurs as I pass the second man who seems fit enough to cope with my speed. A metre away was Michael and sixty metres away from him was the finish line. Loud noise of applauds and cheering came from the non-participants. Some were clapping their hands.

  ‘Michael! Michael!, Michael!...’ Michael’s fans’ applauds.

  ‘Kevin! Don’t give up!’ A crowd nearby shout and applaud at my nearest competitor.

  ‘Phil! Phil!’ It was a recognise voice but I made a quick glance at the corner of my eyes to confirm what I heard. It was the beautiful Samantha in person who was cheering and waving at me.

  ‘Come on Phil!!! You can win it!’ She screams at the top of her voice.

  At that moment I felt replenished psychologically. I take in deeper breath as I extend my legs. I was moving faster and I knew I could do it. The second man struggles to cope with me that I easily overtake him. I coordinate my hands in the same rigorous momentum so that my upper body strength may help to generate enough power.

  A few metres were left to the finish line that I instantly found myself near Michael. He was fast but I could keep up. I had to win this and I need this I thought. I release the animosity from within and unleash an unstoppable speed. It’s all in the head, Michael had once said. I block the pain barrier and put my mind somewhere else. Somewhere where my mind would be busy thinking of the good instead of the bad condition my body was in.

  My thigh, calf and legs all give out a sensational burst of burning spasm. It felt as if they were on fire. It took me by surprise but retreating was not a desired option I was keen to take up and beside the few metres brought me closer to the finishing line. I allow my mind to take control of the situation.

  Though I was running I saw myself sitting beside Samantha. We both stare at each other’s face. Admiring and appreciating each other’s company. The love that we had for each other was strong. The eyes never lied, she stares at mine and we slowly brought our faces closer. We close our eyes and kiss each other.

  Crucial spasm of pain kicks out the day dream of sensual love. The spectators stand up and cheer up at the top of their lungs. Ten metres was left ahead. I knew that the time was either now or never. Michael was running at the same pace and at my peripheral view I noticed uncontrollable frothy saliva falling out of his mouth.

  The sign of exhaustion was there.

  He was feeling it as well…

  His, might be worse than mine…

  I won’t go down of dehydration…

  I had drink four litres from yesterday’s evening till I went to sleep…

  I have to open up a bit more

  I can make it….

  At the edge of failing I give out the last remaining conserves fuel and I slowly leave Michael at the back. I took in more air as I unleash a dynamic and hidden energy. It felt as if I was floating. The cheering and screaming got louder until I went through the finishing line. It blows out as my body goes through it.

  I carry on with a light jog of appreciation of my win. Michael walks slowly while he tries to catch his breath with his arms at the back of his head. He seems breathless and his face displays emotion of embarrassment. The third skinny competitor stand still but immediately bend half way to catch his normal breathing rate. He then sprays vomit on the turf while the other competitors run towards him at the finishing line. Fourth place was Tony.

  ‘Here comes big Tony the bully…. who thinks that he’s better than anyone, cuffing his way to the line like an old asthmatic pensioner with lung’s problem.’ Michael said.

  Tony cuff out loudly as he tries to catch his breath. Four of his team mates run towards him and hold him. Joey holds his face up while he gives Tony water from a transparent sport’s bottle. Michael could not stop himself from laughing.

  Then he said aloud, ‘Look at him, Tony the inspired bully and his team of ghouls. Only one lap and he can barely stand. The one who always make the weakest feel insecure when he himself, he’s a weak link.’

  Those who was nearby and who overheard it starts to laugh. Hailey walk towards his boyfriend and Samantha head to where I was standing. Tony raises his eye brows and stares at Michael. Under each side of his big muscular arms two of his friends bore the burden of his weight. They try to stand upright as their massive friend relies on them to stand up.

  ‘Look at him. Is he the true bully that he portrays himself to be? The flawless character that he had wanted us to believe in.’ Michael said.

  Tony forces himself firmly on his legs. As if he had regenerated from the run. He removes his two strong arms off the back of his friend’s back. It was apparent from the body language of both of his friends that they were both relieved of Tony’s weight.

  ‘You must be looking for your best friend.’ Tony said.

  ‘Who does this might be?’ Michael asked.

  Tony immediately punches Michael straight in his face and cried out, ‘Mr Knock out!’

  Michael fall backward but he quickly allow his body to roll with the flow of the motion. He took everyone by surprise when he quickly got back on his feet. Amazingly and energetically walk towards his opponent with a bloody nose. Tony throws another punch at him and he dug. Without warning he seizes Tony by his head with both hands and jump with one of his knee heading for his opponent’s face.

  It fiercely made a full contact under Tony’s chin that it upset his balance and he land on his butt. He was shock as it turns out to be an unexpected move. The crowd cheer at Michael and laugh at his opponent. Tony wipes his bleeding nose with one hand as his gang moves closer to Michael. They all stare at their opponent as they slowly head towards him.

  Coach got into the middle. He quickly blows a whistle to get everybody’s attention. Everybody stand still, look at him and he angrily scream at them, ‘Both of you! In my office,…now!’

  ‘You’re lucky you’re still standing. My boyfriend would have kicked your ass.’ Hailey said to Michael.

  ‘Shut up whore, you’re a disgrace to your kind for the type of man you call boyfriend. Wake up and taste reality. Your future will be bleak and darker with him.’ Michael said.

  This took Hailey by surprise that she stays quiet, shows sign of reflecting on the offensive language which she must had been aware that they were partly facts.

  ‘Who are you calling Whore?’ Tony aggressively demands for reasoning as he approaches his nemesis.

  ‘I said both of you in my office. Shall we take it to the principal’s office so that you both may be expels from the school? Your choice if you want to graduate or not.’ Coach said as he aggressively points his finger to explain their options.

  ‘Phil,’ a young lady’s voice said from the back.

  I have seen her coming towards me before the fight started. I had expected her but I pretended to be occupied by the comic scenery. What I had failed to prepare for was how to respond to her. Perhaps there’s no such thing as a proper way to respond to the opposite, be myself and act normal.

  ‘Phil. Are you ignoring me?’

  I turn around and we were facing each other. Inexperience and nervousness hit me. ‘Yes, are you talking to me?’

  ‘You see what I meant?’

  ‘What... What is it?’ I asked in a stammering motion.

  ‘Why am I under the impression that you’re trying to ignore me?’

  ‘M…Maybe.’ I said stuttering and swallowing the sentence.

  She smile and shy away from staring at me in the eyes. Unsure she chose to look at her feet instead of me. At that time I knew that she must had been embarrassed as well. Then she looked at me straight again through the eyes. As if she was determined to know what I was thinking.

  ‘Yes?’ She timidly asked as she looks away.

  ‘Maybe because I can
’t think straight once beautiful eyes like yours stares at me,’ there was a pause. We both shyly glance into each other’s eyes. ‘As if staring through the windows of my soul,’ I respond nervously.

  ‘Wow, the windows of your soul. It sounds a bit like poetry.’

  ‘I meant the way we stare through each other’s eyes.’

  ‘Yes, I know but I want to know what you really meant by it?’ she joyfully teased.

  ‘Well, it’s a start to build something. I call it a bridge of love. Where, it all begins……’

  ‘The beginning of a relationship…….,’she whispered.

  ‘Exactly…….Maybe we should hang out together?’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I like you.’

  She smile and I smile back at her while we both stare into each other’s eyes with a passion. I could feel some kind of connection being built between us. A bond of friendship and a desire of a new beginning of a new found matured feelings known only as love. It was all around us. It was an unexplained pleasant feeling which came out from the gut of my soul.

  ‘You don’t have to.’ Samantha said as she smiles. ‘You’ve got yourself a number one fan!’ Samantha added as she exclaims heartily.

  I was speechless. She noticed that I was out of words. She smile and I return the same gesture. Then Samantha said as she walks backward, ‘I’ll see you later in class.’

  ‘Sure, perhaps we can go out together.’ I diplomatically send my message across in a more confident manner. I was no longer afraid as my fears had already been consumed by her kindness and her envy to know me.

  ‘Sure, why not? I would like that.’

  ‘Me, too,’ she expressed herself with fervent desire. Her body language spat it out.

  ‘Later then,’ Samantha said as she turn around and head off the turf excitedly.

  ‘Cool.’

  I watch her as she walk off the green field. There was something about her. Irresistible beauty was what she was rich of. A slim figure in a tight blue jean, with engrave fashionable shredded marks at the left knee and right thigh. Her feet were protected by an old neat and light brown leather boots. Her top was a white see through which gives out the colour of her bra. In front of her was her school file which she lays on her stomach. Samantha holds it dearly with both hands as she heads for the school.

  I turn around to see what was happening to Michael and Tony. Coach had taken both of them for a little walk afar from everyone. They were in the middle of the fields. Coach appears to be giving both of them a good telling off. Hailey, who was nearby, waiting and watching for the outcome of her boyfriend’s trial, decides to move closer to me.

  ‘Are you going out with the new girl?’ I remain mute while I pretend not to hear her. ‘D....Dear me, I never thought that you had it in you.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

  ‘Some predators are territorial when it comes to hunting their prey. Especially if it’s a new one they head for it before the other predators get a grip of it. Just never thought you had it in you.’

  I did not response. I pretend to not hear her as I turn the opposite way and watch Samantha walking away.

  ‘I bet you’re dying to have a piece of that.’

  ‘Does it have anything to do with you?’ I sarcastically asked.

  ‘Perhaps we should go out together.’

  ‘A few minutes ago you were fighting for your boyfriend. Isn’t he still yours?’ I sarcastically responded as I point at Tony’s direction and asked.

  ‘Not officially. My status is open. There’s a vacancy and I was wondering if you want it? ….well, you know exceptions can be made and I can be available just for you.’

  ‘No thanks. You’re disgusting at times.’

  I walk away and she said, ’You’ll come back for it.’

  I carry on towards the school for the male’s changing room. I needed to change from my physical education running kit to my normal private clothes for the next class. She started to agitates and become angry.

  ‘I know you had fancied me in the past and that you still do! I know that you will accept me! Remember nobody rejects me!’ She arrogantly said.

  ‘.....all the best then!’ I said as I walk away.

  5

  The old man was in distressed. He had foreseen the past and the future. The present was yet to be written. He had felt an urgent need to help out but the uncertainty was one thing he was afraid of. He walked the same road he once had taken a few years back.

  The frail man made a final march to the secondary tarmac road. He walked the single carriage way on the side he felt comfortable with. Safety was what his mother had thought him to be aware of while walking those compact two lanes road as a child. Facing the oncoming traffic had always been the right way.

  The country road felt deserted with not even a single traffic passing by. Each side of the ghostly road were surrounded by thick vegetation and massive trees. The walk became a lonely one. It brought up bad memories.

  He could see himself on a bicycle riding that same road. Only to realise that the last time he rode it he was young and energetic. His mind went back at that time he undertook the challenge of the sharp turns of the road. He looks at his hands and realised that it was the same hands guiding it. Except that the pair of hands he saw belongs to a young version of his own self. They rode the bicycle with the flow of the road which snakes its way through the thick forest.

  A rush of fear conquered the old man’s soul as he realised that he was on the run. The old man got back to reality. He stopped and looked behind him. He could still remember them. His mind slowly crawled back into the past. He saw them, a gang of five teenage boys riding hard and fast behind him. He could still hear their exact words.

  ‘Come on boys!’ The big teenage boy on the bicycle at the front barked at his gang.

  ‘We’re coming Tony!’ One of his followers who dressed up in a black gothic suit barked back.

  ‘He’s not gonna get away!’ Someone at the back said aloud.

  The old man’s mind brought up hallucinating image of that historic event. He could see his own self riding fast and passing himself. He turns his head back again to see the gang getting closer to him.

  Then the hallucinating memories of his elapsed period faded away. The old man faces the direction he was heading for. The direction they had all headed for. He walks down the road until he reaches a pathway at the side of the road.

  His old memories gives in short burst of events of the past. He sees his own hallucinating young self, riding furiously and coming to an immediate halt at the path way. Quickly the old memory was gone and he tries to examine the pathway ahead. Though the memory was old he knows that it must look exactly the same. It was the only and exact identical pathway which fit the one in his head.

  He made headway through it. He walks through while searching for any new threat from side to side. Humans and poisonous reptile which may hide out among the thick vegetation on each side of the footpath made of thick white rocky sand. He knew that he had no chance to stand against those threats unless he sees it first.

  He had to be thrifty with his life as he knew that he has become slow. Years has catch up with him. Wrinkles had invaded his body like cocoon on pupae. The future is uncertain he had said to himself for the past half of his life.

  The school bell rang for the end of the final class. Some kids head straight out while some head for their lockers. Excitement of heading home and doing what we like was the moral that triggered most of us to leave the school premises quickly.

  I was in love. I could not think of going home without talking to her. She was an amazing girl and I felt the need to know her. I slowly packed my bag while I took a peek at her. Samantha sat at the front left for that class. She takes all her belongings and look at me from behind.

  With our eyes interlocking each other, I felt embarrass and powerless of the feelings I felt for her. Love at first sight. Samantha smile at me and walk towards me. Nervously
I stand up. My shaky hands drop the biology book I was trying to fit in my school bag.

  ‘Are you spying on me stranger?’ she joyfully growl at me in a playful way.

  ‘Wasn’t we supposed to be on a sort of a date?’ I ask nervously.

  She smile and respond in a friendly teasing manner, ‘Oh, hold your gun big boy I can’t seem to remember that part of us agreeing on terms for our date.’

  ‘You know what?’

  ‘I’m all ears.’

  ‘I want you to know that the moment I laid eyes on you I became your favourite fan.’ I said.

  Then I playfully took her hands, went down on one knee and said, ‘Samantha will you be my girlfriend?’

  She smile and merrily play along without bothering herself of the by-passers who were minding our business, ‘Sure my dear prince, we can give it a try and see how it may turn up.’

  ‘Good you’ve made my day.’ I joyfully respond as I stand up.

  We walk out through the crowded traffic of students bumping into each other for the main door which led out. At times I had to walk at the front to be able to squeeze through the gap of students and Samantha follows me. My left hand got hold of my school bag and with the same side I push through the crowd.

  My right hand lays relax but it was not for long until it felt warm. Someone got hold of it. I turn around and see Samantha holding it. Our eyes meet with a dedicated passion for each other. She smiles at me. I could not help myself by not responding and returning the same friendly gesture.

  Once we were out of the crowd we walk down the road together. There was an uneasiness of nervousness as we both stayed quiet. She slowly removed her hand in mine and uses both of hers to hold her file towards her chest. We accidently call out each other’s name at the same time while facing each other while walking down the road.

  We smile and laugh as we realise that we’ve call out each other’s name at the same time. Perhaps it was love at first sight like I had felt or just the complicity of normal anxiety of uncontrollable jitters. I’m not a love expert but all I know is that it was a wonderful feeling.