Shattered glass. Flaming cars. A noose tied tight. These were the conditions under which I first met the Gatemaker. His booth was the first thing I saw after my rebirth. I suppose it was everyone’s first sight, really. He had built it on top of the Gateway’s only mountain, which was visible even against the Gateway’s edges. I didn’t climb up it immediately, though. I lay right where the ground or God or whoever had put me. Something about the Gateway didn’t seem right. Everything was hazy, kind of like a dream, and the sky. . . it was too gray. Instead of bending itself around clouds to create a spectrum of light grays, blues, or even pinks, the Gateway’s sky looked like an ashen paint sample. The ground must have thought this odd too because she never let herself kiss the sky, and the sky never neared her embrace. The two stayed separate, continuing in their own directions individually and endlessly.…show more content… The ground had no fear of me. She wrapped her wiry fingers around my body, drawing me closer and closer with every moment that passed. It was like she was afraid I’d leave her, and I wouldn’t have if she hadn’t suffocated me. I began to peels her dark vines away from me, and she fought back at first. Then, she realized that I no longer wanted her affection, so her grip became limp. I quickly pulled myself up, fearful that she might change her mind and reach for me again. And, somehow, I still didn’t feel free. Something heavy had looped itself around my neck. It didn’t feel like that ground’s rough touch, but I looked down at her anyways to make sure one of her fingers wasn’t still outstretched. It wasn’t. The parts that had strangled me lay in curled knots around my imprint. They looked so empty without anything to hold, and a pang of guilt ran through my soul. I had left my mark on the ground, and she had let me go unscathed. I decided that must be what heartbreak looked like. Car