Chapter Text
It was an unwritten rule, almost. Understood by all, for sure. For decades, possibly even a century or two, it was the guideline that was passed down within each family.
No one crosses the Garden Wall.
To be frank, no one knows why they should not cross it. There are too many rumors, too many silly tales that contradict each other for any actual history of the Garden Wall and its mysterious other side. What everyone does know is that it had been a part of the town ever since its founding back in the early nineteenth century. In the town’s historical archives, little is mentioned concerning the Garden Wall. The town’s city limits only reach the Garden Wall; everything else on the opposite side is either “no man’s land” or immediately becomes the city limits for the neighboring town. Again, no one is certain.
But everyone knows that it is best to keep away from the wall. The only thing that borders the wall is the Eternal Garden Cemetery. The logic was that the dead could not climb over the wall, and those who visited the cemetery were not there to see the other side.
Most of the time.
In many ways, as time passed, the Garden Wall became invisible to the town’s inhabitants. Even if they walked alongside it, no one had the intention of climbing its height of fifteen feet (not usually). The municipal government made sure to attend to it in case of erosion or other damages, and occasionally people whispered about it, but otherwise, it was just a wall. Not the wall.
In fact, the most people ever “interacted” with the wall was if they were visiting the Eternal Garden Cemetery. Considering how both were in the far outskirts, it only made sense. Visit someone’s tombstone—you would inevitably glance at the wall. If you heeded your parents’ advice, you would not climb the wall. You would not even acknowledge its existence. It was just another wall.
But, of course, there were those who were mystified by the wall, and did decide to cross it. The most well-known story that had been circulating amongst the townsfolk was that of a young man who worked at a general store and climbed the wall, never to return. He had no parents, no siblings, no distant relatives, not even a beau, so it was not as if anyone ever missed him. But he went to the top of the wall and jumped off on the other side. A few witnessed the account, and they wondered if he would ever return. He never did, although at one point, many years after his disappearance, he sent a letter to his former employer. The only words written were, “Everything is not what it seems, friend.”
From the rumors, there had been five who went beyond the stone boundary; this number included the young man, presumably the first. Four men, one woman. It was more common for people, particularly children, to begin the trek up the wall, only to stop out of cowardice and go back down. One young woman in the 1960s ascended only to sit at the top. She said there had been nothing but trees, but she was unwilling to descend to the other side and explore. She never provided an explanation why.
The Garden Wall was supposedly under police surveillance, but no one could be so certain. And even if so, it was largely a waste of time. No one had climbed the wall in decades, and it was simply accepted that no one did climb anymore. Even the least superstitious townsfolk chose not to brave the odds and venture to the other side. Was there a reason to? The Garden Wall was largely a local legend, and (nearly) everyone dismissed the delusions surrounding its murky history and rumors.
And so, as the townsfolk went about their lives, they remained uncertain and ignorant of what exactly occurred on that side of the wall.
That is, until recently.