Gate of two worlds (Short Story)

"Tejo, we run out of water, please get it in the river son," my mother shouted

Mother told me to take water to the river for our daily needs. All villagers here need water for cooking, bathing, and drinking.

"Okay ma'am," I replied.

I immediately took two barrels of water and headed to the river. The distance from the house to the river is 200 meters, I carry this water barrel for me to fill the water ordered by my mother.

On the way to the river, I enjoyed the cool breeze and the beautiful view of the rice fields and mountains. How peaceful the village in the Majapahit Kingdom is. Arriving at the river, I immediately put this water barrel under a very clear waterfall so that it was filled to the brim.

While waiting for the water to be full, I sat under a shady mango tree, I saw several squirrels running on tree branches and wild rabbits playing in the grass.

From under this mango tree, my eyes fell on a well that was no longer in use. People say the well can take people to the demon world. Because, one of the children had slipped into the deep well, but his body was not found.

Suddenly, two partridges headed towards the well. The two partridges were eating on the edge of the well. I want to catch them for dinner tonight. I slowly crept so that the partridge didn't run away. After getting close enough, I jumped at the partridge like a tiger wanting to pounce on its prey.

Damn, the two partridges were very agile, they escaped and immediately ran into the forest. As I stood up and wanted to go back to the waterfall, I slipped and fell into the well. "Ouch" my wrist hurts quite a bit. I lifted my face and screamed.

"Whoever is there, help me," I shouted from the well.

But there was no answer from up there. I was forced to try myself to climb this well. One by one the stones that were firmly attached to the wall of the well I gripped firmly, a little more I got up there. When I held one of the stones on the wall of the well, it turned out to be mossy and slippery, I fell back to the bottom of the well.

Damn, once again should be able to. I tried to get back up to the top of the well, and finally, I managed to get out of this well. But, why is the atmosphere different? Where is this? This forging seemed foreign to me. I sat quietly looking around me. It's like a temple, yes I am on the temple grounds.

"Hey, what are you doing there?" said an old man wearing a white robe. "Who are you and what do you want?" he asked again.

"Sorry sir, I also don't know why I'm here," I replied to the old man.

"Then how did you get here?" asked the old man.

I told everything that I experienced, from fetching water in the river to being here. But the old man didn't believe me and thought I was crazy. Long story short, I came out of the temple and was astonished to see a place I had never seen before. "What kingdom is this?" I asked myself.

"Vroom"

"What is that creature?" I shouted.

Then a girl from across the street looked at me in surprise. Then she smiled at me and walked towards me. The girl had shoulder-length brown hair, and her face was so beautiful.

"Hey, where are you from?" the girl asked.

"I live in the village of Gantarawang, the Majapahit Kingdom," I answered.

"Ha ha ha"

The girl burst into laughter. I was surprised, but there was nothing funny.

"Your outfit is cool, is there a cosplay event?" said the girl.

"What is cosplay? I asked.

"Events using anime costumes or superheroes, don't you know?" said the girl.

"Hey, I'm being serious, I'm suddenly in this strange world," I said.

"What a strange world? You are the strange one, your clothes are also strange," said the girl.

Then, I told all the events that I experienced today, it seems the girl believed my words. While I was telling where I lived, suddenly a black, iron-skinned creature galloped down the street.

"Vroom"

"Hey, what kind of creature is that?" I asked.

"That's called a car, humans drive cars as a means of transportation," replied the girl.

"Wow, I just found out," I said

"Yeah, it's the 21st century, 2022, I'll show you around," the girl said.

Then, we walked around this place. This beautiful girl explains a lot. It turns out that this is the future, in this era, the Majapahit Kingdom where I was born no longer exists. Now it is a metropolitan city residing in the country.

Many new things were explained to me, and the part I liked the most was enjoying the food in the future. Starting from burgers, ice cream, pudding, to crunchy snacks such as crackers with different flavors.

"So what's your name?" the girl asked.

"My name is Tejo," I answered.

"Okay Tejo, my name is Aprillia, where is the well you mentioned earlier," said the girl.

"It's at the temple near us when we first met," I replied.

"Let's go there, but first, you go to the barbershop, yes, your hair is very messy," said the girl.

Then, the two of us walked to the barbershop to get my hair cut. After that, we went to the well in the Buddhist temple, the place where I first entered this era.

"So this is that well you said?" Aprilia asked.

"Yes, that's right, this well brought me to this era," I answered.

"That means, this well is a gateway to the past and modern dimensions," said Aprillia.

Aprillia told me, if I go back into this well, I will return to my time, the era when the Majapahit Kingdom still existed. But Aprillia wants to know how things were in the past. So she wanted to come into the well with me. I looked for a rope first and tied it to an iron pole so that Aprillia could more easily climb the well when she returned to this era.

We both jumped into the well and "ouch" Aprillia fell on me. Then Aprillia grabbed my shoulder and I climbed up the well. Finally, I returned to my village. This well is indeed a two-dimensional gateway to the world. Aprillia looked astonished and amazed to see the situation in my village. The scenery is still natural and the air is cool, this is the first time she has felt. She even said that this river was very clear.

I took Aprillia for a walk in this village, as well as introduced Aprillia to historical places. I also brought Aprillia to my house and introduced her to my mother. But my mother got angry with me because I forgot to bring water for our needs.

I told Aprillia to wait at my house, while I ran towards the river to bring two barrels of water. After putting water in the house, the two of us continued to walk around the village. She was very amazed to see the atmosphere in this era of the Hindu kingdom. She immortalized the temple and inscription with her cellphone camera, not forgetting to also take a selfie in front of the palace of the Majapahit Kingdom.

It was late afternoon, and the sun was about to set. I accompanied Aprillia to the well that became the two-dimensional gate. Then Aprillia went into the well and returned to her time. I will never forget this amazing experience. I have no intention of re-entering the future, but Aprillia often visits me here. Once a week she went to this well and enjoyed the atmosphere in the Majapahit Kingdom.

The lead image source by Unsplash