Once upon a time, in a small town where everyone knew everyone’s business (especially things that were none of their business), there lived two friends: Anaya and Ira.
Anaya ran her own small restaurant, the kind of place where the food was hot, the customers were louder, and Anaya herself was tougher than the coffee she served. Ira, on the other hand, worked as a sales helper in a convenience store, mastering the art of smiling politely even when people asked, “Is this the price or the discount?”
They loved each other very much, in a “let’s spend every free minute together and complain about life” kind of way. Their friendship began back in school, when they were just 13-year-olds, on a day that neither of them knew would change everything.
Ira was new in town. New school. New classroom. New confusion. On her first day, she walked into the classroom, scanned the room like a lost puppy, and sat down next to Anaya. Without overthinking it, she said a simple, “Hi.”
Anaya replied, “Hi,” and just like that, history quietly began.
For some strange reason, the very moment Anaya saw Ira, she decided, This girl. She’s mine. Best friend forever. Maybe it was Ira’s innocent, slightly childish vibe, or maybe destiny just nudged Anaya in the ribs and said, Trust me.
At that time, Anaya was the quiet type. Always alone. Helping at her mother’s restaurant, focusing on studies, and wearing a strong face for the world like armor. But when Ira entered her life, something shifted. Life suddenly felt a little lighter.
A few days later, after school ended, Ira was on her way home when a couple of boys surrounded her. They tried to bully her. Ira froze, scared and crying, wondering why school didn’t come with a warning manual.
That’s when Anaya arrived.
She pushed the boys away and warned them, very clearly, that if they ever tried to bully Ira again, they wouldn’t just face consequences… they would face Anaya.
The boys, sensing danger and self-preservation, wisely left.
From that moment on, Anaya and Ira were inseparable. Best friends. No discussion. No paperwork. No turning back. As the years passed, their friendship only grew stronger.
Ira’s parents had passed away when she was just 15 years old. That day became the saddest day of her life. They met with an accident, and in one moment, her whole world collapsed. Ira couldn’t control her tears. She kept crying, shaking, breathless. Anaya was there, holding her by the shoulder, trying to be strong enough for both of them.
With all her innocence, Ira looked up at Anaya and asked,
“But… where did they go? I want to see them.”
Anaya swallowed her own pain and said softly,
“They went to heaven. We cannot go there.”
That answer didn’t sit well with Ira at all.
Angrily, through tears, she pulled out her notebook and pen and wrote on a piece of paper:
“I want to go to heaven and see my mom and dad.”
And then she cried some more, because grief doesn’t come with an off switch.
From that day onwards, that paper never left Ira. It stayed in her bag, her wallet, her pocket, wherever she went, it went. Bags changed. Wallets changed. Time changed. Even the paper became old, faded, and almost torn. But Ira never let it go. She called it her wish paper.
It took time for Ira to feel normal again, if “normal” even existed after that. And through everything, Anaya was always there. No questions asked. No conditions. Just presence.
Now, Anaya and Ira are 33-year-old women, beautiful, young, in their prime age, working, surviving, and making the best impression of having their lives together.
Neither of them really had an interesting love life. Anaya still lived with her beloved, aging mom, and took care of the restaurant. Both of them were still single, casually waiting for the love of their lives, while secretly wondering if that person was stuck in traffic… or had taken a wrong turn in life.
After work, they met every evening. They shared their days, laughed loudly, danced badly, cried about being alone, complained, bitched, gossiped, sometimes had a glass of wine, and then complained some more. But at the end of every evening, they always went back home with hearts full of smiles, already waiting for the next day just to see each other again.
Life was simple. They worked. They earned. They met every evening. Anaya took care of her mom. And Anaya and Ira took care of each other.
They never even went out of town, yet they dreamed of a day when they would eat whatever they wanted, spend money without guilt, party, find boyfriends, and live a happy life. But the dream stayed a dream. Neither of them had the money for it. And Anaya could never leave her old mom alone, especially not with the responsibility of a generational restaurant that her mom refused to sell or leave.
Anaya loved her mom.
Ira loved Anaya.
And without Anaya, Ira never went anywhere.
They didn’t know what to do without each other. For decades, they had been together. They never imagined life separately. They were happy with what they had, at least, they thought they were.
One day, Ira, already exhausted from her arrogant boss, was humiliated in front of a group of people. The boss always called her names, never appreciated her efforts, and that day was the last straw.
Fed up, angry, and hurt, Ira pulled out her wish paper and looked at it, the way she always did when life became too heavy. It reminded her of a time when she was truly happy, when her parents were still alive.
That evening, she went to see Anaya.
Anaya greeted her with a not-so-happy smile.
And the moment Ira saw Anaya, everything spilled out. She told her everything that happened and finally said, with anger and exhaustion mixed together, “I’m done with my job.”
Anaya finally opened up too. And once she started, everything came out at once, like a pressure cooker that had been politely pretending it was fine.
She said she was tired of the restaurant. Tired of customers. Tired of stock problems. Tired of new problems arriving every single day, like they had a subscription.
“All I want,” she said, “is some time for myself. I’ve spent my whole life inside that restaurant. I’m done. I want to go somewhere, have fun, fall in love, and just… breathe. It’s suffocating in here.”
Ira felt every word. With a sad smile on her face, she slowly opened her wish paper, looked at it with teary eyes, and whispered,
“I want to go to heaven and see my mom and dad.”
At that exact moment, a sudden heavy wind blew.
The paper slipped from Ira’s hand. Ira panicked.
“That paper!” she cried and ran after it like her life depended on it. Anaya followed her. But the paper didn’t fly too far. It floated gently and landed a few feet away, in the hands of a man sitting alone on a park bench.
By now it was dark. The park was empty. Too empty. And this man… was smiling.
He looked young, maybe around 25 to 30. Casually dressed. Dark-skinned, curly hair, lean and tall, big eyes, a light beard, and a strange, almost mysterious smile that made no sense at that hour.
What confused Anaya and Ira the most was this: they had never seen this man before. Not once. And in a town where everyone recognized everyone, that was suspicious. But the park is connected to a railway station just a few feet away, and sometimes people who are waiting for their train sit on the park bench. So Anaya and Ira assumed he must be waiting for a train to his place.
They walked up to him. “That paper is mine,” Ira said. “Can you please give it back?”
The man smiled wider, said ‘I was listening to your conversation, I feel sad for you girls,’ saying that he looked at the paper, and read it out loud, slowly:
“I want to go to heaven and see my mom and dad.”
“Mmm,” he said thoughtfully. “Interesting. But why did you write this?”
“That’s none of your business,” Ira snapped. “Just give it back.”
The man didn’t look offended. Instead, he smiled even more and said,
“Going to heaven? Not my business? Well… you’re right. It’s not my business.”
He paused. “But it is my job.”
Anaya, already irritated, asked, “What are you even saying?”
The man turned the paper front and back, studying it carefully.
“This paper is very old,” he said. “At least more than a decade. You must have been very small when you wrote this.”
Then he looked up and continued calmly, “Based on this, three things are clear.
One: your parents died.
Two: you were too young and innocent at the time.
Three: you wished for this so strongly, with so much pain, that you could never let this paper go. The wound never healed. Somewhere, you believe you deserve justice.”
Ira went completely silent. Tears filled her eyes.
Anaya stepped forward, frustration boiling over.
“That’s enough. Give the paper back or else…”
The man laughed.
“Or else?” he said casually. “Come on. I can help your friend get what she wants, and you’re threatening me?”
Anaya snapped back angrily,
“You cannot help us. You are no one to help us. The only help you can do right now is to help yourself by giving that paper back.”
The man laughed. There was a hint of ego in it.
“I’m no one? Really?” he said. “Girl, think before you speak. Do you even know who I am?”
Then, with pride and mystery mixed perfectly, he announced,
“I am the gatekeeper of Heaven.”
There was a pause.
Two seconds.
And then, Anaya and Ira lost it.
They burst into laughter. Loud, uncontrollable laughter. The kind that makes your stomach hurt. They laughed so hard they almost rolled on the ground. The man stood there, completely confused, ego shattered mid-air.
“Heaven?” Ira laughed. “Is that a restaurant or something?”
Anaya high-fived her instantly. And the laughter resumed.
The man blinked.
Then… he started laughing too.
Seeing him laugh, Anaya and Ira slowly stopped. Something about his laughter didn’t feel normal. They stared at him, surprised. He stopped laughing just as suddenly and smiled again, calm, mysterious.
He held the paper between his fingers and showed it to them.
In a few seconds, the paper shined.
Not glitter. Not reflection.
It glowed in a bright golden light. The shine passed through the paper from one side to the other and vanished within seconds.
Silence.
The wind stopped. The park froze. Everything became still.
Anaya and Ira were shocked.
The man stepped closer to Ira. He glanced at Anaya, then gently took Ira’s hand and placed the paper in it, closing her fingers around it.
Both of them were terrified. They wanted to run, but their feet wouldn’t move.
Then the man spoke calmly.
“This is your pass to Heaven. Go. See your mom and dad. And come back whenever you want. Remember, this pass can be used only once in a lifetime. Once you return, you can never use it again. Not until you actually die.”
He smiled.
“All the best.”
Ira whispered, shaking,
“But… how do I go?”
“There is an old building,” the man said. “Built by the ancestors of this town centuries ago. Now it’s abandoned. That is the portal to Heaven.”
He checked the sky.
“The time is 11:45 PM. The gates open at exactly 12:00 AM and close at 12:12 AM. If you run now, you can make it.”
A train siren echoed from the railway station.
The man smiled playfully again.
“Alright then. Time for me to go. See you next time.”
Anaya, completely confused, asked,
“Are you a ghost?”
The man walked away slowly, with a huge playful self-centred laugh and replied, without turning back,
“I already told you, I AM THE GATEKEEPER OF HEAVEN.”
He took a few more steps and added,
“Don’t waste time. Go see your mom and dad. You deserve it… Don’t you think?”
That sentence hit Ira’s heart.
If even one word he said was true, she couldn’t miss this chance. Without another thought, she jumped in excitement and started running toward the place he mentioned.
Anaya stayed back, frozen, suspicious, confused, overwhelmed, watching the man walk away.
After a few feet, Ira shouted excitedly,
“Anaya! Let’s go! There’s no time, we need to reach the portal before it closes!”
Anaya turned back.
One thought crossed her mind:
For Ira, I will do anything. Wherever she goes, I go.
And she started running towards Ira.
The man stopped listening to Ira’s words.
He turned back with fear and disappointment and shouted at the top of his lungs,
“That pass is not for Anaya! It’s only for you, Ira! If Anaya enters Heaven, she can never come back!”
Too late.
They were already running. They didn’t hear him.
The man bit his tongue.
“Uh oh… I forgot to say.”
He stood there for a moment, confused, disappointed.
The train siren sounded again. The final call.
He smiled to himself, turned around, and ran to catch his train.
Ira and Anaya ran as fast as they could toward the old building. Ira didn’t want to miss this chance, no matter what. They reached the place at exactly 12:00 AM and rushed inside, hearts pounding louder than their footsteps.
The moment they entered, they froze.
Inside the building, there was an entrance, an actual entrance, where people were calmly walking in. People who looked like they were from different parts of the world. That itself was shocking, because nobody in town ever came inside this building. And even if someone did, nobody had ever said anything about this.
Only the entrance was shining.
The rest of the building stood lifeless, old, dark, forgotten. But beyond that glowing entrance? It looked like an entirely different world. Colorful. Vibrant. Pleasant. People were laughing, talking, walking happily inside. From the outside, it felt like they were staring into a dream.
Nobody paid attention to Anaya and Ira.
A tall man stood at the entrance. Muscular, moderately dressed, watching everyone go in with a mysterious look, very similar to the other man. The only difference was the smile.
Anaya whispered,
“Maybe he’s also a gatekeeper of heaven.”
Ira swallowed hard.
“But how do we go inside? What if he stops us?”
Anaya replied confidently,
“We have the pass. I don’t think he’ll stop us. And if he does, we’ll show him.”
Ira shook her head.
“No… I’m scared.”
Just then, a small kid walking inside tripped and fell. The man immediately rushed to help the child and got distracted.
Anaya’s eyes lit up.
“Now is the time.”
She grabbed Ira’s hand, and together they walked toward the entrance. They looked at each other, smiled, and said softly,
“For our friendship.”
And they stepped into the portal.
As they passed through, the paper shined again, bright golden light for a few seconds, and then stopped. They ran a little farther inside, just to make sure the man didn’t notice them.
Still holding hands, they finally stopped and looked around.
“Heaven…” Ira whispered. “I can’t believe it.”
Anaya looked around, stunned.
“Are we dreaming? Can two people even be in the same dream at once?”
Ira laughed.
“I don’t care if it’s a dream. I’m in heaven, with my best friend. That’s enough for me.”
She jumped excitedly.
“Now that we’re here… let’s have some fun!”
Anaya smiled and nodded.
They began exploring.
There was magic in the air. Everyone was happy. Smiling. Talking. Dancing. There were no differences, no sadness, no loneliness. Kids were playing. Everything was bright and alive.
Slowly, Anaya and Ira realized something strange: there was no money.
People worked not for money, but for community. For happiness.
Anaya and Ira ate whatever they wanted. Went wherever they wanted. Did whatever they wanted. Wore whatever they wanted. They took rides. They swam in the lake. Laughter echoed everywhere.
Anaya and Ira were having the best time of their lives.
The smiles never left their faces.
They forgot about home.
They forgot why they came.
They forgot time itself.
All they knew was one simple thing, They were happy. Very Happy.
While they were busy being happy, two men came over to talk to them.
Slowly, conversations turned into laughter, and laughter turned into friendship. The two men were charming, handsome, tall, young, gentle. The kind of men people usually meet only in dreams… or in Heaven, apparently.
Before they even realized it, the men fell in love with Anaya and Ira.
It felt unreal. Like life was finally apologizing.
Anaya and Ira looked at each other and laughed.
“Finally,” they said, “we found someone.”
Then they laughed even harder.
“We had to travel all around the world and come to Heaven just to find the one.”
It became their inside joke, one only they could understand.
For the first time in their lives, Anaya and Ira had found the love of their lives. Perfect men. More than they had ever dreamed of.
They kissed.
They smiled.
They danced in the tulip gardens.
It felt like a together forever moment.
They had found their prince charming.
Time passed by, filled with laughter, the kind that feels endless, the kind that makes you forget everything else.
As Anaya and Ira, along with the two men, were walking along the side of a river, Ira suddenly stopped.
On the riverbank, she saw a couple sitting together, happily spending time. Something inside her froze.
“Mom… Dad…” Ira whispered.
Her legs refused to move. Her eyes filled with tears.
Anaya followed Ira’s gaze, and her heart skipped a beat.
She recognized them.
It was Ira’s parents.
Anaya didn’t think. She grabbed Ira’s hand and started running toward them, the two men followed them. The couple noticed two girls and two men running in their direction and stood up, startled. As the distance closed, the blurry faces became clear.
Ira stopped right in front of them.
She looked at them with trembling lips and tear-filled eyes and whispered,
“Mom… Dad…”
Her parents stared for a second.
Then tears rolled down their faces.
“Ira!” they cried.
Her father pulled her into his arms.
“My little princess!”
All three hugged each other tightly, crying uncontrollably. It was a moment beyond words, years of pain, longing, and love collapsing into a single embrace.
Ira had waited endlessly for this moment. And finally, it was here.
She touched her mother’s cheeks, climbed onto her father like a little child. Her mother kissed her forehead again and again. Ira hadn’t been this happy in years.
Watching Ira with her parents, Anaya’s eyes filled with tears, but with a smile on her face.
But the first thought that crossed Ira’s parents’ minds was fear. No parent would ever want their child to die so young.
“Did you… die?” they asked, trembling.
Ira quickly explained everything: the pass, the portal, the chance to return.
Relief washed over their faces when they realized Ira was still alive and could go back, live her life. Ira introduced the love of her life to her parents and they were happy, hugged both of them and blessed her. Ira’s parents thanked Anaya for always being there for their daughter and taking care of her. Anaya hugged them with smile.
For a moment, it felt like this could be a happily-ever-after.
But destiny had other plans.
While they were smiling and talking, Anaya heard a voice from behind.
“Anaya!”
A short, chubby man came running toward her, breathless and shocked.
He was Anaya’s neighbor.
He stopped suddenly when he saw her.
“Anaya? Are you here? We’ve been searching for you everywhere. We thought you were still alive, but we didn’t know that you were dead.”
Anaya’s smile faded.
“Your mom…” he continued, panic in his voice. “She’s worried sick. She’s been looking for you on every street, crying every day. She’s very ill. She’s bedridden now, keeps calling your name.”
Anaya’s heart sank.
“Everyone is worried about you, about your mother, about the restaurant. There’s no one to run it. If your mom finds out you’re dead…”
He paused.
“She won’t survive it.”
Anaya asked her neighbour
“How long have I been missing?”
The neighbour replied
“It’s been weeks!”
Anaya said
“But how is it really possible?”
Ira’s parents said
“There is no track of time in Heaven”
Anaya stood there, frozen.
Shocked.
The happiness around her suddenly felt very far away.
Anaya quickly told the man that she wasn’t dead. She explained everything: the portal, the pass, Heaven, all of it, and said she could still go back.
The man listened quietly and then said softly,
“I’m sorry, Anaya. I died of cardiac arrest. That’s why I’m here.”
He looked at her with concern.
“You still have a life waiting for you. Your mom needs You. You should go back. You need to choose Anaya, between Heaven or responsibility. Love or Sacrifice.”
Anaya swallowed hard and whispered to herself,
“I need to go back… We need to go back.”
She turned to Ira.
“Ira, we have to go back. Please.”
Ira looked at her parents, standing right there, alive in front of her eyes. Her heart broke all over again. But without hesitation, she nodded.
“Yes.”
It was time.
Everyone rushed toward the portal.
Ira hugged her parents tightly. She told them how much she missed them, how badly she had wanted to see them, how happy she was just to have this moment. Tears flowed freely. She hugged her man, kissed him, and said her goodbyes to everyone.
Anaya hugged her man too. She held him close, kissed him, and through tears said,
“You are the most beautiful gift life has ever given to me. Thank you for loving me.”
Then Ira took out the paper from her pocket.
She looked at Anaya and said,
“You first.”
Anaya stepped forward to exit the portal.
But she couldn’t.
Something pushed her back.
She froze.
She tried again, stepping forward with force.
Again, she was pushed back.
Panic filled her eyes.
Everyone standing there watched in shock. Ira’s parents grew frightened, wondering if everything, the pass, Heaven, the portal, had all been a dream.
But Anaya and Ira knew it wasn’t.
Silence fell. Confusion hung heavy in the air.
Then Ira noticed someone standing near the portal.
The mysterious man.
The gatekeeper.
He was standing there calmly, guarding the entrance, observing people walk through.
“Hey!” Ira shouted.
The man turned in surprise, then walked toward them with the same familiar, unreadable smile.
“Hey, Ira. Hey, Anaya,” he said casually.
“Looks like you’re having a good time here.”
Anaya and Ira were furious.
“Did you actually kill us?” Ira yelled.
“You said we could go back, but we can’t step out of the portal!”
“Not we,” the man corrected calmly.
“It’s Anaya who can’t step out.”
Anaya looked at him, confused.
“What do you mean?”
The man sighed.
“I gave the pass to Ira to fulfill her wish. Not yours. With that pass, only one person can exit the portal, and only once in a lifetime. I never said multiple people could use it.”
Anaya’s world collapsed.
She fell to her knees.
She didn’t know what to do anymore.
Tears streamed down her face as she sobbed,
“Mom… I’m sorry. I never meant to abandon you. I never wanted to hurt you.”
Ira broke down too. She knelt beside Anaya, placed her hand gently on Anaya’s shoulder, hugged her tightly, and cried with her.
Watching their bond, the man’s expression changed.
“There is… one way,” he said slowly.
Anaya and Ira stopped crying and looked up at him.
Curious. Terrified. Hopeful.
“If Ira gives the pass to Anaya,” the man said,
“Anaya can go back to her mom.”
He paused.
“But Ira will have to stay back here… forever.”
The man looked at them once more and said calmly,
“Now, the choice is up to you.”
With the same annoying, unreadable smile, he turned around and walked away.
Silence followed.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
Everyone stood still; confused, shocked, frightened, thinking.
Then Ira broke the silence.
Bravely, she said,
“Anaya… I have everyone here. My parents. The person I love.”
She took a deep breath.
“You should take the pass and go back to your mom.”
Anaya shook her head immediately.
“But Ira… I can’t imagine my life without you. What will I do without you? Who will I smile with? Who will I share my laughs with? I don’t even know how to live without you. I can’t.”
Ira smiled sadly, tears rolling down her cheeks.
“Even I will miss you, Anaya. Even Heaven is a sad place without you.”
She wiped her tears and continued,
“But only one of us can go. And your mom needs you. Your life needs you. You still have so much to fulfill.”
They hugged each other tightly, crying, shaking, holding on as if letting go would break them completely. They held hands and promised each other that one day, they would meet again in the same place.
They smiled through tears.
Wiped each other’s cheeks.
It was time.
Ira handed the pass to Anaya.
She didn’t just give her the pass,
She gave her life.
With a final goodbye hug and a heart unbearably heavy, Anaya stepped out of the portal. As she passed through, the paper shined once more in the same bright golden light. Within seconds, Anaya was out.
The paper vanished from her hands like magic, dissolving into the air.
Anaya looked at her watch.
12:12 AM.
She turned back.
The portal was slowly closing. Everyone stood there smiling: Ira, her parents, the love of her life, waving goodbye.
With tears streaming down her face, Anaya whispered goodbye.
The portal closed.
Anaya took a deep breath and ran home.
When she reached her house, it was dark and quiet. Her heart pounded as she entered the room. Her mother sat on the bed, crying softly, holding Anaya’s photo frame, wiping it again and again.
“Where are you, my dear…” her mother sobbed.
Anaya whispered,
“Mom… I’m back.”
Her mother looked up.
She froze.
Then she cried uncontrollably.
“Anaya, my dear… where were you? Why did you leave me all alone?”
Anaya hugged her tightly and cried.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I will never leave you again. Ever. I’m back. Everything will be alright.”
Her mother held her face and asked,
“Promise me you’ll never leave me like this again.”
“I promise,” Anaya said softly.
“I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too, my dear,” her mother replied.
Days passed. Ira finds peace with her past, and Anaya finds a renewed purpose for her future.
Anaya restarted her life with new strength, new energy, and quiet gratitude. Her mother became healthier and happier than ever. The restaurant flourished. Anaya brought new ideas, new warmth, new life into it. People loved the place. They loved her.
Every evening, Anaya visited the same park she and Ira used to visit. She sat there alone, sometimes smiling at old memories, sometimes crying, sometimes dancing, sometimes singing softly to herself.
She missed Ira deeply.
And she knew Ira misses her too.
Every evening, Anaya took out a small wish letter from her pocket and read it quietly:
“I want to go to Heaven and see Ira.”
Inkwellery by Abhi 
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