The Gate
By A.L. Lester
The road unfolded in front of the car as it ate up the miles in the night. Way above he could see the high arch of the night sky, as distant and cold and passionless as an afterlife he didn’t believe in. Arthur was dead. Finally gone. After all these weeks, dragging from hour to hour, fighting for every last breath, he’d finally let go.
Matty didn’t know what to do with himself, so he drove. Not to anything or from anything, just an instinctive urge to keep moving. Before long he’d have to turn the car round and go back, back to the farmhouse—back to Arthur’s cooling body, life drained and dignity returned. Not quite yet though.
Six weeks ago, he’d finally come back from France to find his brother sick. There had been no warning of it in Arthur’s letters. Just t
