Jess Aarons sighed.
Two weeks ago, his best friend, Leslie, had died. They had never found her body, just her scarf and blood on a sharp rock. It was definitely Leslie's blood, the tests had proved that. No one could have survived in a creek with that kind of cut. She had lost a lot of blood.
Terabithia had survived the loss of their queen, but May Belle's version of Terabithia would never be like Jess and Leslie's. That was a Terabithia that would never see daylight again.
Jess stared out the window of the school bus.
No one else knew how he really felt about Leslie's death. They all thought he was so brave, facing reality like a hero. But every night, the horror of his best friend's death came to haunt him, to torture him. In any case, reality had partially destroyed Terabithia forever. Terabithia was now a land filled with May Belle's purple flowers. Jess was sick at the sight of them.
If only, if only...
If only he had invited her on that stupid museum trip! If only he hadn't been so selfish to want his teacher all to himself. He would give anything to have Leslie all to himself at that moment, but he had always taken her for granted when they were alone in Terabithia...
Jess stepped off the school bus and walked to class.
There was just was thing that kept him going: unknown to May Belle, he had commanded all the creatures in Terabithia to find any sign that Leslie was still alive. It was unlikely, but Jess knew that if he didn't have hope, he would plunge even further into the darkness that had surrounded him for the past two weeks. It was the only thing that kept him going.
Jess walked into class, and the school day began.