A Departure From This Strange World

The Janitor never left. He just kept talking.

At some point, we all just filtered his voice off like how I would often do when the neighbors are playing a rather obnoxious song in a gigantic speaker, probably from a recent Metallica album.

I gazed at my watch again, unknowingly, while tapping my feet to the ground.

Veronica seemed to have noticed this as she readjusted the bust of her dress. "If you're hurrying so much, just go. I'll explain everything to Lucas later?"

"Yeah," I then diverted my gaze to Lucas, who was now selling an anti-aging product to a middle-aged woman. The woman touched his hands, and he caressed hers back with his bare finger in a rather intimate way. I noticed that the woman did not seem to have felt anything and just smiled at Lucas with a flushed face. I glared at this entire exchange with a piercing gaze as I gritted on my teeth. "Maybe I should buy something on the Caravan first before I go. Maybe one of those calming pills."

"What for?" Veronica said while redoing her foundation.

I sighed. "No, never mind." I reverted my gaze to Lucas again and saw that he's still holding the middle-aged woman's hand. I gripped my hand tightly as the tapping of my feet grew louder. "I'm gonna leave."

"Oh." Veronica turned her head at me while still tapping a brush on her face. "Sure, sure. I'll tell, Luc, don't worry. Go now, don't let him keep you."

After waving Veronica goodbye and rejecting her offer to have a hug, fearing that her scent might overlap with the smell sticking on my skin, I finally stepped out of the Court, walking down the darkened halls towards the exit. I was again greeted with the abstract scenery of the many departed spirits, swaying all over the clouds once I took a step out of the court. They're all screaming, howling, crying, some are even laughing and cackling all in unison, creating the sound of the countless aghast wailings of departed souls spewing their horrid pleas of returning to the mortal realm once again or the rejection of it. The spirits on the sky swirl and form like a blackened pasta on the sky, twisting like a mushy melted marshmallow swimming in the air. I could still see the outline of their faces while they demanded the sleeping creator to bring them back to life; they all seem like pickled cucumber, squirming inside a glass jar when their face distorts their mashed soul in the sky.

I groaned. "Since I can hear these guys already, that means the Piper already went home," I whispered while showing my discomfort in my twisted grimace. "Ugh, these dead people, I swear—makes me so hungry."

My gaze returned on the sun and the moon, both looming high in the sky, but this time, the moon has no more chains, and a swirling metallic object is twisting from out of a hole in the middle of the sun, forming towards the moon like a thread of metal. I looked around me to see if the Piper was still here, so he could play his melody before I could go home, but just like his song, the artist is nowhere around. The soil below and the trees around me now look like terribly drawn doodles that a six-year-old child would do as an art project, and they're all moving in quite a distorted way as if they were all flinching glitch on an old 3D game. Some trees were even flinching so hard that I could barely figure out the shape they're supposed to be. If this were a dream, I would have been afraid, for it would be a heavy load to carry on my life knowing that a Bethesda game had infiltrated my dreams.

I finally ignored all of this and decided to hurriedly stroll towards my doorway a few meters away from here while casually glancing at my wristwatch now and then. Once I looked at my ticking watch so hard that when I raised my head to look at my surroundings, I realized that everything around me had returned to a more realistic-looking style. Still, it was not quite as real as I want it to be, giving me an uncanny feeling of seeing something realistic though noticing the fakeness within the fine details on it. I now realized that I'm almost there in my doorway.

Finally, after turning on a tree that I had engraved with the letters 'L' and 'T' on the trunk and moving straight ahead after seeing a tree that had the letter 'R' engraved on it while noticing how the tree itself had a somehow phallic-looking shape, I finally saw my door. I also noticed an older-looking man standing next to my room with his body poised sharply but with a soft smile on his face.

"Gatekeeper!" I exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

The man who was wearing a black coat, black slacks, black necktie, black leather shoes, and a white collared shirt beneath his coat chuckled after seeing me. "Good afternoon, Mr. Timothy."

I rarely see the Gatekeeper ever in the long time I've been a customer of the Ringmaster. All I know is that he handles all the doors, and he's the one who has access to all the paths where the door should be in whenever it is needed or whenever the Organization asked him to do so. The bottom line is, he's in charge of the doors appearing to the mortal realm. Other than that, I know nothing else about him. I heard rumors that he has his court somewhere farther away from here, so seeing him before I leave now is genuinely a pleasant surprise.

"It's rare to find you around these parts, let alone bother you to see a customer off," I said with a light chuckle.

"Oh?" He said in wonder but still with a pleasant expression. "Didn't the Ringmaster tell you about it?"

I asked with a raised eyebrow. "About what?"

The Gatekeeper chuckled, before opening my door for me, gesturing me to enter within. "My deepest apologies, Please ignore this old man's ramblings. My old age must be keeping up with me already. Mind not what I say, and I wish to see you again next time, Mr. Timothy."

I took a step forward with a hint of confusion in my face. I realized the awkwardness of the scenario and quickly tried to say something to ease the atmosphere up before leaving. I don't want to leave a wrong impression on anyone working in the Organization. "I see you still look just as young as when the last time I saw you, Gatekeeper!"

He chuckled, his smile revealing different layers of wrinkles on his face, outlining both his age and the sheer happiness he feels. "It must be because you always come every October! Try coming a bit later, maybe somewhere in December, and I'm sure you'll see that I'll be much older than you remember."

I raised an eyebrow again on what I had heard with my mouth slightly agape. I don't understand this man, but he's not a bad person. I'm not so sure, though, because this is probably the longest time I've spoken with the Gatekeeper. I only ever see him when the Ringmaster is unprepared and needs a doorway to call someone.

"Well," I said before clearing my throat. "I'll be leaving then."

"I am excited to see you again." I heard him say after bowing.

I then entered the door and saw that there's nothing but sheer darkness within, not even the light outside could penetrate through the blackness looming inside my brown door. Still, I went inside without a second thought. Once I had entered, I heard my door closing, presumably because the Gatekeeper went on his way to close it for me.

After blinking, I realized that I'm now back to my boring, normal-looking, and sad apartment room. I looked back to see that my door is not there anymore before taking my mask off and placing it on top of the nearest shelf. I moved my neck from side to side while unbuttoning my shirt. I then went inside my bathroom while scratching the space around my eye, making me close my eyes a bit. Feeling the tiredness coursing through my head, I yawned, thinking about what I will be doing in the university later. Thinking about it had already made me tired while I stood in front of my sink before opening the faucet.

"Why did you suddenly leave?" I then looked at my mirror to see the reflection of a tall man behind me. His striking gaze thrust through my body as I saw a scowl forming on his stunning face. "I told you to wait."