Second Chance
Disclaimer: Bridge to Terabithia does not belong to me. It belongs to Katherine Peterson, her son, and the movie's production company.
A/N: This fanfic is based on the 2007 movie, as it's the version most would be familiar with; I have read the book. Also, I'm more used to their movie characterizations; having seen it just recently.
Chapter 1
Nothing Crushes Us
Jesse Aarons lay in his bed, turning frantically as though someone was roasting him alive. Which he felt – but not outside. In his heart. He dreamed the same dream he had dreamed that tragic day all those years ago.
"Leslie!" he yelled, watching her slowly back away.
"Jess, why didn't you save me? Why?" the girl, Leslie, asked. A furious glare travelled through her face.
"I... didn't know..."
"Didn't know what? You went without me. You could have saved me."
She's right, he thought bitterly. I could have.
How?
I don't know. But I could have.
"Please, Leslie..."
"Jess..." a new voice.
"Jess, wake up."
"Leslie!" Jesse screamed, his eyes opening. He was breathing heavily, looking for the source of the voice. May Belle. Calming down, he tried to get an even voice, but it came out angry. "What's wrong, May Belle?"
Put out by his harsh tone, May Belle backed away slightly, worried. "Momma says you gotta wake up. It's morning already. 'Sides, you were crying."
"I was not."
"Were to. Wipe your face."
Carefully, slightly cautiously, as though afraid to find out, Jesse did so. He pulled his hand away from his face, brought it in front of him. It was wet.
"You weren't dreaming about... her, were you?" May Belle seemed to somber down slightly; she knew how Jesse felt about Leslie's death.
"Yeah. It's my fault... Should've invited her to the stupid museum, or, better yet not gone. Gone to Terabithia, with Leslie."
"Jess, it's been three years."
"So? So? I can feel whatever I want!" Jesse yelled, instantly regretting it. But May Belle ran away, leaving Jesse to apologize to the air.
He walked toward the kitchen, sighing. He planned to apologize to May Belle before he left for school.
"Jess," his mother said. "What was all that screaming?"
"Rough night," he replied, walking out the door. His mother sighed, but said nothing.
"Hey, what's wrong, Nance?" Jesse's father, Jesse Aarons senior, asked, coming in.
"It's Jesse. I'm not sure how long it'll take..."
"Hey, relax. Leslie was his best friend, of course it'll take a while for him to come to terms."
"Momma?" May Belle said.
"What is it?"
"I think it's not just Leslie's death."
"What do you mean?" the father asked.
"We got in an argument... And he said... he said it's his fault."
Nancy covered her mouth in shock and understanding, while the father ran off to find Jesse.
Jesse ran towards the creek. The creek that led to Terabithia, his kingdom.
"The king of Terabithia needs guidance..." he muttered, his arms pumping. Leslie would've liked his wording, but not how he said it. She always sounded queenly in Terabithia. He only pretended to.
There it loomed in the distance. Terabithia. To most, it was just a forest. To Leslie, it had been and kingdom. Once, it was a kingdom to Jesse, too. Now, however, it was the place where he went to for guidance.
Sometimes, when he was there, he felt as though Leslie was next to him. He could never nap in Terabithia anymore. Whenever he closed his eyes, he felt as though she was laying next to him; as though the past three years were just a never-ending nightmare that he finally could wake up from. But it never happened. His eyes opened to see... Emptiness, or the tree house that he and Leslie had designated as the castle of Terabithia.
That was his destination. The castle. He hadn't changed it much after her death; when he brought May Belle to the forest and crowned her Princess, he had built a new castle. The old one he kept as a memorial for Leslie, his Queen.
He came to the bridge, one of the newer parts of Terabithia. He looked at the inscription he wrote on it. Nothing crushes us.
"Nothing crushes us," he whispered, remembering when Leslie had said it. She said there was a troll attacking. "Nothing crushes us."
With that, he crossed the bridge, avoiding the path toward the new castle, heading toward the new one.
"What would you say, Leslie? Right now, at this moment?" he asked. He knew what she might say – that he was heading toward the memorial for the Queen after a long absence.
Vainly, he glanced around, trying vainly to see the Terabithians. But he couldn't, just as it had been before he let May Belle in. It was too close to Leslie's death.
Suddenly, the world started spinning. The sun beat down on him. Despite the relatively cool air, he felt like he was burning. A rock stood in his path. And he tripped and fell, losing consciousness.
Jesse stood in an empty whiteness, with a girl standing in front of him.
"Leslie?" he asked, approaching her cautiously, as though afraid she would disappear – or accuse him, like in his dreams. But no, she turned to face him calmly, her face breaking into a smile.
"Jess!" she exclaimed, running to embrace him. After a brief but strong embrace, the two stepped apart, smiling slightly – Jesse for the first time in a while.
"I... I don't get it. You – you died, Leslie!"
"I know. I'm being offered a second chance... You're being offered a second chance."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not allowed to help you Jess; not too much, anyway." She said. "I have too much to gain."
"But... What do I have to do, Leslie? You're better at this magic than I am."
"I can't help you even if I was allowed to; the answer is in your imagination, not mine."
"But do you know anything about this?"
"No. Not even the higher-ups do; no one has ever succeeded in this."
"Then how can I?"
"Just remembering and imagining."
With that, Leslie faded, leaving Jesse alone in this endless void. "Leslie! I'll make sure you get your second chance." He raised his head toward where the sky would be, his eyes glaring angrily. "This I vow: I will succeed. For we are the rulers of Terabithia, and nothing crushes us!"
Jesse's father followed the deep tracks left by Jesse's sneakers. While the tracks stopped at a wooden bridge, it was clear that his son had crossed it, for the trail continued there.
He crossed the bridge, worrying. This was where the Burke girl had been found, he realized. They were best friends. She must've known about whatever was in this forest that was so important to Jesse.
Suddenly, he spotted a prone figure laying on the ground. He ran toward it, dread growing in him. And, when he reached the figure, his fears were realized.
There, on the grass, his son lay there, unconscious.
"Oh, God. Jess!" he yelled, trying to wake his son up, before lifting the form and carrying it toward home and a phone.
Nancy Aarons sighed, worried. Jesse had just run out on them; that hadn't happened since he'd first learned about the death. He'd been in denial then. Was he still? Or was it something else?
Her thoughts were cut off by her husband's entrance, carrying an unconscious Jesse.
"What happened?" she asked.
"I don't know. But he was in the forest."
Nancy gasped; she knew which forest her husband meant. "So – So he hasn't accepted?"
"Afraid not. But, right now, we need to get him to a hospital. I don't know how long he's been like this."
She nodded. "I'll get the phone."
While Nancy went to talk on the phone, the father set Jesse down gently on the couch. Brenda, Ellie, and Joyce Ann, Jesse's other sisters, looked at Jesse, worried.
"What happened, dad?" Brenda asked.
"I found him unconscious in the forest he and the Burke girl used to play in."
May Belle looked at her father. "After the bridge?"
"Yes. Do you know anything about this?"
She seemed to have an internal struggle – betray Jesse's trust, or lie to her father. No matter what, she'd hurt one of them if he found out. "No."
"You sure?"
"Positive."
A/N: To clear up one thing, the Leslie in the dream sequence was not the Leslie that Jess vowed to save. Rather, in the dream, she was his guilty conscience (I'm assuming, of course, that Jesse didn't immediately accept his father's words).
So, what do you think? Should I continue?