Disclaimer: I do not own any publicly recognizable figures, setting, or anything else. They all belong to their respective copyright holders, and not me.
Sum: Before the beginning of the school year, Jesse has a dream about a golden haired girl drowning in a river on and off for about a month. When he meets that girl, Leslie, how does that change the story? And after several events, the least of which being a strange voice showing up in his dreams, Jessie and Leslie somehow end up getting sent to Terabithia, where Jessie must somehow save Leslie, in addition to the rest of the realm, from the Dark Master.
Author's Note: This is a rewrite of "Terabithian" , a fanfic I started and later abandoned roughly two years ago. I have since(hopefully) become a better writer, but my memory of the story/characters is somewhat fuzzier than it used to be, so bear with me here. Also, please note that while I have decided to take a much different approach to the story as a whole, the first few chapters are going to be very similar to "Terabithian", and will be somewhat slow paced. It picks up around ch5.
He had to save her. He had to. He didn't know what he'd do without her. And so he ran, through field and forest, and over fence and hill until he came upon a stream pregnant with the previous night's storm. And as he followed that stream toward's where a rope swing hopefully still hung, he heard a high pitched blood curdling scream ring out. The rope had broken, and her body was swept limply downstream, golden hair writhing in the currents. He dove in after her, dragging himself through bone-chilling waters until he could reach out and-
Jesse's eyes opened upon the darkened room he shared with May Belle.
Dang it! That's the third time I've had that dream this week! He thought, rubbing his bleary eyes until they functioned properly in the lightless hours before dawn-The clock read 3:30 in the morning, afterall. And on the night before school started, too. Jess settled in to salvage what he could for his sleep schedule, strained though it was with the repeated dreams of the previous two weeks.
They had come upon him suddenly one night, when he was in the midst of a dream where he was racing in the Olympics. One moment his feet were pounding against the track, and the next against the soft earth near his countryside home.
Three hours later Jesse awoke to perform his morning chores and go for his morning run, only coming to the breakfast table when he was sweaty and his breath came in ragged heaves. After breakfast, and some squabbling between him and his siblings, Jess lead his younger sister May Belle out to the bus stop for the first day of school. He noted absentmindedly that there was a moving truck in front of the old Perkins place, but paid it little mind. They probably won't stay there long anyway, He reasoned. The place was old and in need of repair, though with a little work it could become livable. Most folks wouldn't stick around long enough to put that work in.
When they reached the bus, Jess sat down away from his sister, though it turned out to be an effort in futility, as she sat next to him anyway. Monster Mouth Myers was halfway through attendance when Mr. Turner introduced a new student, one Leslie Burke. Jess eyed her suspiciously; something about her seemed familiar, some quality about her bugging him in the back of his mind. He passed it off as the strange quality attributed to anyone new in a small town.
He didn't think of her again until recess, when she lined up next to him in the boys' race like she didn't know it was against the rules. Fulcher was quick to jump on this, rather rudely saying, "Hey new girl! This race is for boys only! No girls allowed!"
"What's the matter, Fulcher? Scared you're gonna lose to a girl?" Jess quipped for the sole sake of contradicting one of his several nemeses in his small school. Fulcher grumbled, but said no more, and soon the race was ready to start.
"Ready! Set! Go!" Shouted their referee, and Jesse surged into motion along with the other boys. And Leslie.
Jess then lost himself in the race, running as fast as he could. He sliced through the air like a well honed blade, losing track of the other runners. At that moment he couldn't have cared less about them. He couldn't see them anyway, since he was winning, or so he thought. While he had been caught up in running, and in winning, Leslie had caught up to him, and soon passed him and went through the finish line, beating him by a few feet. I...lost. The thought left him in a daze for the rest of the school day. As he got off the buss, however, he was snapped out of his reverie when he noticed Leslie get off at the same stop. Does she live near here? He wondered, but his sister asked first "I didn't know you lived near us! Is that your house?" May Belle asked pointing to the old Perkins place. "Yeah, we just moved in!" Leslie chimed.
Feeling left out, Jesse said "we live just down the road." pointing in the general direction of their house.
"Well I'll see you guys later then." Leslie told them, running off to her new home, golden hair blowing in the wind.
He stopped walking as it dawned on him.
Golden hair writhing in the currents.
Leslie was the girl from the dream. Must be just a coincidence. . . Right?