A/N: So this is my first fanfiction I'm posting on this website... not my first fan-fic, but the first one I'm posting.
Anyways, so the first time I watched Bridge to Terabithia I was pretty young, in short. I loved Leslie to death while I was watching it, and since I hadn't read the book beforehand, I had no idea what was coming. So when Leslie died... in short, I was more than a little sad, then read the book despite the ending. Years later I read the book again recently, then watched the movie pretty much straight after. Although I was accepting of the ending and fully understood why it ended that way, I still wasn't in favor of it and kept wishing why Leslie had died and such and what would have happened if she had lived. So then I quickly decided to whip up an alternate ending, where Jess invites Leslie... then to see how it went from there.
Oh- and unfortunately, I don't own Bridge to Terabithia. Katherine Paterson does. However, I do own this Alternate Ending.
Nothing Crushes Us
As Miss Edmund's car was going down the road, Jess turned his head to look at the view. Immediately the old Perkin's place raced into the view… Leslie's home came into view.
Jess looked to Miss Edmunds, clearly focused on the wheel as if it were the most important thing of the world. Just as the car passed the old Perkin's place, Miss Edmunds looked to Jess quizzically. "Forgot something?"
Jess opened his mouth to say no at first, but then logic quickly overcame him. He had wanted the day with Miss Edmunds to himself- chances like this didn't come every day, after all. But this day was turning out to be perfect so far, so what would make it more perfect than have Leslie with both of them?
Him, Miss Edmunds and Leslie. Jess relished the idea once he thought of it. Yes, inviting Leslie would make the day perfect.
"Y-yeah," Jess stuttered, uneasy- yet he was always uneasy and nervous when around Miss Edmunds. Not being uneasy around the pretty music teacher was an as absurd idea as Brenda and Ellie volunteering to do the chores around the house.
Jess quickly regained his senses once he realized they had passed Leslie's house. "Yeah," he repeated, now more sure of himself. "W-we should invite Leslie. You know, Leslie Burke."
Jess tensed his muscles, surprised to see that Miss Edmunds gave a little bell-like laugh and simply said, "I know Leslie very well, Jess Aarons. I think inviting her is a great idea!" Miss Edmunds laughed again. "The more the merrier.
Jess fully relaxed now. For some strange reason, he thought that Miss Edmunds would trash the idea once she heard it. Jess had thought that Miss Edmunds would want it just to be the two of them, no Leslie allowed. Now that Miss Edmunds had given him a different response, Jess scolded himself for being so stupid. Of course Miss Edmunds would like it! Miss Edmunds was one of the kindest people he had ever laid eyes on- one of the many traits he adored about her.
"So, where does Leslie live?" Miss Edmunds asked, breaking his thoughts.
Jess looked around him, then realized that Miss Edmunds had drove past the old Perkin's place.
Something seemed to shock him into his senses once he realized this. "Wait… turn back!" Jess said. "You passed it!"
"Oh!" Miss Edmunds quickly looked around her, then when she saw there were no cars around them to hit, swerved the car around and drove back the way he came.
A smile lit up Jess's face as Miss Edmunds headed back and requested Jess to tell her when to stop. Yes, Jess had made the right choice. This would be the perfect day.
"Stop," Jess commanded Miss Edmunds, and as expected, she pulled to a stop in front of the big, two story white house. Jess opened the car door, and just as he was about to walk up to Leslie's front door, he hesitated and quickly turned back to Miss Edmunds. "Are you sure this is okay?" Jess asked, sudden anxiety overcoming him.
Jess relaxed again as Miss Edmunds nodded and urged Jess forward. "Why wouldn't you want her coming with us to the museum?" Miss Edmunds asked, adding a laugh at the end. "You sure seem nervous today."
All Jess did was smile as if he wasn't wearing his pants in front of her and only smiling to make things better. Ensnared momentarily, he shook his head quickly as if doing that would help him regain control over his body. "Leslie, right," Jess told himself to remind himself what he was doing.
Before Jess had further second thoughts, he ran up to the Burke's. Right as he arrived, Leslie was shutting the door behind her, P.T. in her arms. She was wearing the long red raincoat she had worn the day before in case of rain and had the usual mismatched socks embedded on her arms. Leslie's face lit up in happy surprise when she saw Jess arrive.
The two fastest runners in fifth grade ran up to each other. "Hey Jess!" Leslie greeted. "I was just about to go into Terabithia!"
I don't want to go to Terabithia, Jess imagined himself saying. In fact, I'm scared to go to Terabithia today- the creek's too large.
But Jess was able to picture the dismay on Leslie's face if he said that. So instead he replied, "Cool. Anyways- me and Miss Edmunds are going to the National Gallery in Washington. Wanna come?"
Leslie smiled furthermore. "Sounds fun!" she said, having pretty much the same reaction as Miss Edmunds when Jess had asked if Leslie could come. "Just lemme ask Bill and Judy."
Jess waited as Leslie disappeared into her house again. A minute later, Leslie emerged out the front door, this time without P.T.
"They said yes!" Leslie cheered as she ran to Jess.
Jess smiled. "Okay! I'll race you to the car!"
Leslie giggled, her way of accepting Jess's challenge. They raced each other to the car in a racing frenzy. Leslie opened the door to Miss Edmund's backseat while Jess returned to the front.
"Hey Leslie," Miss Edmunds turned to look at the blonde girl. "You ever been to Washington before?" she asked as she turned away and began to drive.
Leslie nodded. "I have, but only with Bill and Judy-"
"Bill and Judy?" Miss Edmunds inquired.
"My parents," Leslie quickly explained. "I call them by their first names. Anyway- I have, but only with them- and that's only been once or twice. I haven't gone in at least a year."
"Well then, this'll be fun." Miss Edmunds stole the words from Jess's mouth.
The rest of the drive was fun- the trio sang along to songs they all liked in the radio as if it were a Friday at school when Miss Edmunds would come. Because of that, the drive did seem to pass by fairly quickly.
When they entered the National Gallery, Jess, Miss Edmunds and Leslie all admired the art that was displayed there- one of the more astonishing gallery's being da Vinci's.
"I wonder if da Vinci started in notebooks, just like you," Miss Edmunds mused as Jess was flipping through a Da Vinci sketchbook.
"Jess Aarons, the next Leonardo Da Vinci!" Leslie said. As Jess turned around, Leslie gave a brief nod in approval to herself. "Yeah, that seems about right."
Jess felt his cheek temperature rise at the complements.
Miss Edmunds smiled, as if sensing Jess's humility. "It's amazing how much detail is put into it," she noticed, changing the subject.
They looked through the gallery some more, than it was time for lunch.
"You've been to a museum before, right?" Miss Edmunds asked Jess as they all sat down. Leslie looked to Jess, expecting an answer like Miss Edmunds.
Jess shook his head, feeling a little embarrassed next to his best friend and his crush. "No, it's my first time."
Both of the girls were shocked. "Really?" Leslie asked, shortly followed by Miss Edmunds saying the same thing.
Barely able to keep himself from blushing again, Jess nodded. "Yup."
Miss Edmunds smiled. "Well then, I'm honored."
Miss Edmunds turned her head to look at a window nearby. "It's such a nice day out," she approved. "It's been raining so much, I was beginning to think that it was like that Japanese myth where the sun goes into the cave and vows never to come out."
"You two know about everything," Jess remarked.
Leslie chuckled in response. "Not about art I don't!" she protested.
Miss Edmunds found herself agreeing with Leslie. "Not by a long shot," she replied. "But I do try to keep an open mind, and you'd be surprised at what comes in there." She pointed to her head as she was saying this.
"That's what Leslie says," Jess said. Leslie turned to look at him as he quickly continued, "She told me to keep my mind wide open."
Leslie opened her mouth to protest, but nothing came out. Instead, it was her turn to blush.
"You're right," Miss Edmunds smiled to Leslie. "Mind like you two's that are wide open, and you could create a whole new world."
Leslie and Jess tried not to look at each other.
After lunch they left the National Gallery, and the drive was the same like the last one.
"Thank you," Leslie said as she opened the door from the back.
"Yeah, thank you very much, Miss Edmunds," Jess said, trying not to sound too formal while Leslie returned to his side.
"You're very welcome," Miss Edmunds responded.
"You know, we should do this again sometime," Leslie remarked.
That's just what I was about to say, Jess protested in his mind. Instead, he simply nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we should."
Miss Edmunds's eyes were shining in excitement for the future as she nodded, trying to act casual about it. "Absolutely."
With that, the music teacher drove away.
"That was fun," Leslie said as her eyes were pealed to Miss Edmunds's car until it was only a speck in the distance. Leslie turned to Jess. "So, you want to go to Terabithia?" Leslie asked.
Here was the hard part- admitting to Leslie that this time, Jess was scared to go. The water had gotten so high from the rain the last time they had gone, and at that time it had lapped at their feet. So he imagined how much higher it had got. Jess mentally shivered.
Jess slowly realized that Leslie was expecting an answer. "Well?"
Jess opened his mouth to say something, the words rushing out. "Um, let's see how big the water's gone up to now," Jess offered. "It might have raised real high."
Leslie seemed to approve. "All right."
The two friends raced each other down to the rope to Terabithia, and they both stumbled back in awe and in shock at how high the water had raised. The water level was higher than Jess had dare imagined- almost high enough to overflow. The current was rushing so fast that it was enough to carry a truck at a speedy rate.
Leslie's eyes grew to the size of bowling balls, not saying anything in return. Jess felt himself doing the same thing.
Unlike Jess, Leslie seemed to shake it off. "So it's gone high," she shrugged. "So what?" Then Leslie smiled broadly as she grabbed the rope, Jess watching in fear.
"I'm the Queen of Terabithia!" Leslie yelled to the sky. "And nothing crushes us!" With that, she took off, Jess fearing the aftermath and admiring her determination at the same time.
Then everything seemed to happen in a flash.
The rope didn't even last long enough for Leslie to swing halfway to the imaginary land. The tan finishes of the rope loosened up, giving in to some unknown source. In response, the rope snapped as it fell… and Leslie with it.
Leslie screamed in horror as she fell along with the rope. Jess shouted Leslie's name as he quickly ran up to her, before she fell… before she…
Jess wouldn't think of it.
Leslie was the only thing on his mind as she fell and he was running. After what seemed like an hour of agonizing torture at the sight, Jess reached his destination- and grabbed Leslie's hand.
"I got you!" Jess yelled over the rush of the current.
Leslie breathed deeply, somehow barely able to grasp that Jess had just saved her life. Then as she finally recovered herself, Leslie threw the split half of the rope to the home side of the creek and, encouraged at its landing, began to heave herself up.
Jess was quickly losing his strength, but it was the only thing that could save Leslie from the blue bed's open arms of doom. So Jess just clamped his eyes shut as he pulled harder and Leslie pitched in by using her strength to lift herself up. Finally after what seemed like forever, Leslie's other hand grasped the moist dirt and pulled herself up despite the water on her clothes attempting to drag her down.
Jess opened his eyes and stumbled back as Leslie's shoed feet touched the ground and finally let go of her crushing grip on Jess, lots of scrapes on her arms as part of the result that seemed like they could open up at any moment and let blood flow out.
They both took deep, recovering gasps of air, unable to believe what had just happened. They just stood together, in awe- Leslie had managed to escape death's grasp.
Leslie was the quickest to recover from the experience. She dressed her face with a smile and repeated what she said before attempting to sail to Terabithia on the rope. "Nothing crushes us!" she said cheerfully.
Jess found himself smiling along with Leslie. "Nothing crushes us," he repeated after her.
Leslie then stole a glance at both pieces of the broken rope before looking to Jess. "Guess we'll be able to patch up the enchanted rope tomorrow," she suggested.
Jess was horrified at the very mention of the rope. "No!" he instantly said, earning a questioning glance from Leslie. "We can't risk this happening again," Jess explained after a momentary silence.
Leslie shook her head. "Well, then what do you suggest we do, art boy?"
Jess opened his mouth to say something, then quickly shut it. Did Jess have a better idea? Maybe they should patch up the rope- make it extremely sturdy and make absolutely sure this won't happen.
But Jess trashed the idea once he thought of it. Jess was right- they couldn't fix the rope. They needed something else.
But what?
The idea arrived to Jess's mouth before his brain. "A bridge," Jess suddenly blurted. When he saw Leslie brighten at his idea, he was encouraged, and Jess instantly knew he said the right thing.
"We should build a bridge," Jess continued. "The enchanted bridge- we can start working on it tomorrow with the lumber from your house."
Leslie smiled, showing her clean white teeth. That smile seemed to finalize the idea of a bridge- so they would build a bridge. "An idea worthy of the Spirits," Leslie put her facial reaction to words. "So a bridge to Terabithia it is! Now can we go to my house so I can put on some dry clothes? I'm shivering!"