Beyond The Gate

By Shaurya Khandelwal

I ran through the alleyways, shoving around any obstacle that crossed my path. I felt my boot damp by snow that had established its empire on land throughout the country. I was panting and breathing heavily. I could see the gate of my only refuge in sight. I shoved the gate open of the church, but it did not budge. The gate was locked. I was sabotaged. This all started when a year and a half earlier my family migrated from Sao Paulo in Brazil to Chicago in the states for proper income. Since then, my life only took turns for the worst. We were discriminated against and isolated from society. I used to be beaten up every day for the decision of moving, a decision that I did not even make. One gloomy evening I was instructed to get groceries from the nearby store. My sister was a little unwell so my parents could not leave her side. I stepped out and took a big gulp of the air that carried the essence of blood and gunpowder. When I returned after purchasing the goods thinking of an excuse that would explain my unnecessary purchase of a stick of gum that I saw the door of our little makeshift house wide open. Blood withdrew from my face, my hands felt numb, and my feet cramped. I took slow steps into the structure only to see my sister and parents sitting there with their eyes closed. I tip-toed into the room to notice halfway that all three of them had a knife stuck in the back side of their necks. I was moved into a church by the local police officers and told that all our money and property was seized for investigation as we were immigrants. They denied to simply say that they were annexing all the property and committing corruption in the face of crime. After that I stopped putting faith in anyone, whether it be my relatives, friends, the police or even the authorities of Chicago, but there was a someone whom I trusted with my life and that was Father Michael, the church priest. I used to go for evening strolls in the city as I had nothing to lose any more, one evening I saw two cops haggling with an old lady for some cookies that she was selling at her stall. They suddenly burst into anger, pushed the lady off her chair, threw her goods on the road and started laughing. I could not suppress my anger and in a fit I threw a bunch of rocks at the police and ran straight for the church. That’s where my story began. Now with a context let’s continue. I diverted my energy towards the other backstreet and continued my struggled. I felt the wind slapping my face along with a strange feeling in my gut, that was when the sirens made their way through my ears. I knew they were chasing me but to make this a full blown pursuit was mental. They finally caught on to me, after numerous efforts to block my path. At that point in time I had lost all my resolve, all my self – confidence and trust. I had fallen into the deep abyss of skepticism. The police officers hopped out of their car, pulled out handcuffs, shoved me into the car, drove for a mile pushed me out, lodged a complaint and put me behind bars. I had lost the light of my life in the previous hour. Life could take a turn for the worse so shortly that it excites even the most knowledgeable people. I spend 5 years straight in jail serving my sentence without any trail in court. Well to be true I did not actually care about it because I had given up on my survival. The only thing that kept me going was books. The glorious and the most unhinged thing in the world. Book created a setting that suited and supported my imagination driven world because my will power and heart had given up on reality. I had resolved to write a book when I got out of jail. Tis was the sole reason that I kept pushing forward. This was my fuel. What you are reading currently is an extract from it.

By Shaurya Khandelwal