1
"What's… wrong… dear?" Priscilla said from just behind Flash, a clawed paw slowly reaching over to rest gently on his shoulder.
"Nothing." Flash lied, but Priscilla saw right through it. After all, she knew him like the back of her claws, having been with him for the better part of two years, as well as recently getting engaged to him less than a month earlier.
A gentle squeeze and stroke of his shoulder, and the truth would come out of him, like water from a broken dam.
Sighing deeply, Flash slowly turned around on his chair to look Priscilla in the eye. "It's… just… that… I… feel… so…" he struggled to find the appropriate word, "…wrecked."
"What… do… you… mean?"
"Well… work… is… really… busy… and… we… don't… have… fun… anymore."
"Oh… Don't… worry… Flash. I'm… here… to… make… everything… all… right."
Priscilla knew what he was talking about. Recently, there had been a noticeable increase in vehicle registrations, renewals and other administrative tasks, which had left the two of them exhausted. Often times, the first thing either of them did when getting home was to eat the bare minimum of food to keep them functional, before they would slump down and sleep at the closest and most comfortable place in the house. That could be anywhere from the bed, couch or even the coffee table. One time, Flash even fell asleep on the toilet.
This had gone on for months, and Flash was starting to get agitated at this. After all, his engagement should have been a happy event, filled with nothing but the best memories of him and Priscilla. Such memories shouldn't have been pushed out by yet another boring day slogging through forms and registrations, or managing the rude complaints of impatient Zootopians.
Priscilla understood all this well enough of course, having been affected by this as much as he was. Now with the DMV near closing time, and with a slightly more relaxed pace than usual, she decided that tonight might be the time to break the monotony.
"Hey… Flash… I… know… what… we… should… do." Priscilla said, watching his eyebrows raise in response. "You… know… the… old… Wolford… stone… bridge?"
"Sort… of. Is… it… the… old… stone… bridge… in… the… Rainforest… district? The… one… over… the… "magical" … lake?"
"Yes… Flash. That's… the… one. Let's… go… see... it… tonight."
"Okay."
Closing time came, and Flash and Priscilla exited through the front doors of the DMV, paw in paw, heading to Flash' bright red sports car parked nearby.
Ever the gentleman, Flash opened the passenger door for Priscilla, helping her inside, before shutting the door for her and making his way to the driver's seat. Once he was buckled in to his seat, he started the car and roared out of the parking lot in a manner not particularly safe for most mammals, let alone sloths.
Flash continued speeding like a madman along the city streets, weaving in and out of traffic as best as he could and breaking the speed limit by as much as fifty to eighty miles an hour, depending on the heaviness of the night traffic around him.
Only when he was caught by a traffic light, did he break the silence in the car. "So… this… Wolford… bridge... It's… over… some… magical… lake… right? How… is… it… magical?"
"Well…," began Priscilla, wracking her brain for the details, "Fifty… years… ago…, there… was… this… wolf… named… Wolford…"
The grey wolf strode purposefully to the construction site, back held upright and a confident smile on his face. Today was the day that he would open the Wolford bridge to the public.
The bridge was mainly symbolic; there wasn't really a need for a bridge at this spot, but this bridge was constructed in honor of his late father, Gareth Wolford. Gareth was a kind hearted man, who had offered his services as a bridge engineer for free in an attempt to improve the transportation situation in the Rainforest District. Unfortunately, he was killed when attempting to build a stone bridge. The cement that they had used was not up to the task, and the bridge had collapsed with him on it.
Stone was always his favourite material to work with, and Jeremy Wolford couldn't think of a better way to honor him than to finish what his father started.
Walking over to the entrance of the bridge, he took in the solid stone construction of the two low pillars marking either side, and the low walls jutting out slightly lower than the tops of the pillars and running down the entire length of the bridge to the other side.
The bridge may have only been medium sized and relatively simple, but it was still magnificent in his eyes.
Less is more, he thought, as he looked out across the murky green lake. Dad would be proud.
The water was eerily calm as usual, as much of the wind was blocked by the trees. He had heard much about the lake and its special properties, but he couldn't fathom why this lake was considered anything other than yet another boring, dirty and stinking lake. Apparently, in the light of the full moon, this place would grant you whatever you had once lost, so long as your heart was pure and clean.
Wolford snorted to himself at the thought. What nonsense some mammals believe.
Pushing the thoughts out of his mind, he turned around and strolled back to the assembled crowd of builders, engineers and government representatives building up a fair few paces in front of him.
"Everyone." he said, coming to a stop and spreading his paws wide, "Let's begin, shall we?"
Later in the day:
The opening ceremony had gone without a hitch. Mammals from all walks of life came, inspected the bridge and talked amongst one another until sunset before heading back home. This left only Wolford and his wife standing in the centre of the bridge, looking out over the lake which was now illuminated in the bright white light of the full moon.
"So," Jeremy began, turning to his wife by his side, "what do you think is so magical about this lake?"
"From what I heard, it can bring back things you lost. All you have to do is throw a fragment of it into the lake, turn three times in a full circle to the right, and once to the left. Then the lake gives you the thing back."
"Anything? Like… cars, people… Really anything?"
"So I've heard."
Jeremy snorted derisively. "The stuff mammals believe these days. Maybe they should all come down here and get all their lost tax money back from the government."
"It only works if your heart is pure, dear. Doing that would be greed. Then your heart wouldn't be pure anymore."
Jeremy snorted again. "Whatever. Silly superstitions. You don't believe that stuff now, do you?"
"No… Well I don't think so."
"Good. Now how about we sit down instead?"
Looking out over the lake again, Jeremy decided to climb the low wall and sit down, legs dangling over the edge.
"Join me." He said, patting the space beside him. However, before his wife could move, the stone that he was sitting on gave way, breaking out of the still slightly wet cement and sending him flailing into the water below. More heavy looking rocks from the surrounding area broke away as well, falling after him and landing with heavy splashes.
"Jeremy!" His wife looked over the edge, frantically trying to find him in the murky water, to no avail. She knew that he was a very weak swimmer due to his age and poor fitness, and that he would surely drown if she didn't find him soon. "Jeremy! Where are you!"
There was no response. Scanning the water, she finally spotted a muzzle breaking the surface of water, a large gash along the top side, spilling a huge amount of blood. Apparently, the rocks had done their work.
Suddenly, she was screaming, an incoherent cry of grief and fear. Tears flowed like a river from her eyes and soaking her grey fur. She tried to call out to him, but could only choke as the words caught in her throat. She lashed out at the bridge wall in front of her, banging it hard with her paws until they were both bruised and bloody. Finally, she was spent and slid down against the wall and leaned back against it, curling her knees to her body and resting her face in her paws.
As she did so, she caught the glint of her wedding ring on her middle digit of her left paw. On her other paw was the wedding ring of her husband. He had given it to her for safekeeping while he was working on the bridge. Once the launch was over, she was supposed to give it back to him.
Suddenly, she recalled the magic of the lake, and the ritual to be performed to bring back what you had lost.
Although she wasn't superstitious, she decided to try it. After all, she had nothing to lose.
Slowly, she pushed herself up with her paws, bringing herself to full height. Hesitantly, she looked out over the lake again, pulling off her husband's wedding ring as she did so. Clasping it tightly in her shaking paw, she closed her eyes and held it over the side of the bridge, turning her slowly opening paw to allow it to slide off and fall into the murky water below.
Then after stepping a few steps back from the wall, slowly she began to turn three times to the right, silently praying to herself that this would prove fruitful with every turn. She reached her third turn and stopped, pausing slightly before turning around the other way, though much slower this time.
She was reaching the end of the final turn, slowing down with every step she took, scared of what would or wouldn't happen. She had no way of knowing whether this silly little dance would work, and the anticipation that built up with every step was beyond intense.
If it worked, and she got her husband back, she'd be overjoyed beyond any measure. However, if she didn't… The thought was almost too horrible to entertain.
She took her final step, completing the final turn and clenched her jaws and eyes shut even tighter than they already were, waiting for the result.
Through her closed eyelids, she could see a bright white glow, which built up in intensity until they hurt her eyes and made her see spots. When it subsided, she slowly opened her eyes and anxiously held her breath, hoping for the best.
Her eyes were fully opened now, and as her vision cleared, she took in what was in front of her…
…and what she saw in front of her made her cry with relief.
Her husband was standing there, dressed in the exact same clothes as earlier and without a single scratch on him.
"What's wrong?" Jeremy appeared unaware of what had just happened. Meanwhile, his wife had surged forward and caught him in a crushing embrace.
"It's true! It's true!" She was sobbing uncontrollably now, the words barely comprehensible as they tumbled out of her mouth.
"What's true?" Still confused, Jeremy simply brought his paws up to stroke the back of his wife while she sobbed into his neck.
Flash's face contorted slowly into a laugh.
"Ha… Ha… Ha… that… dumb… wolf… should… have… waited… for… the… cement… to… dry! So… stupid!"
Priscilla said nothing as Flash continued to slowly laugh. Finally, he was done, and silence descended on them again.
The bridge was starting to become visible over the horizon now, but Flash didn't slow down, having fallen into deep thought soon after he had finished laughing.
"So…," said Flash, turning to Priscilla, "what… if… the… lake… really… is… magic?"
Priscilla smiled. "Oh… don't… worry… Flash. I'm… here… to… make… everything… all… right."
Flash smiled back, before slowly turning his attention back to the road. The bridge was quite close now, with the two stone pillars marking the entrance approaching at an alarming rate, and Flash widened his eyes in horror when he realized that he was driving too fast. In a panic, he slammed on the brakes as fast as he could, causing the wheels to lock up and send the car into a drift across the slick tarmac, still wet from recent rainfall. There was no avoiding a crash now.
The passenger half of the bonnet slammed into the stone pillar, crumpling it immediately and sending the car rolling down the length of the bridge, bouncing between the two low walls like a pinball. Eventually, the car landed on its punctured wheels on the other side of the bridge with a loud thud.
Flash only had time to look at the mangled, bleeding form of Priscilla in the passenger seat, the blood soaking her pink sweater and flowing down her arm to the gleaming engagement ring on her claw, before blackness overtook his vision and he passed out.