Disclaimer: I do not own anything, be it setting, characters, or plot, or any other such thing related to "Bridge to Terabithia"
Author's note: Like I said in the previous chapter, this is a rewrite of the previous story by the same name. I'll let you guys know if/when we get to the new stuff. R&R, please.
Despite his internal revelation that Leslie was the girl he dreamt had died, he still couldn't bring himself to like her after she continued to beat him in races on a daily basis. His myriad defeats aggravated him, so he ran each morning in the spirit of getting better, though it did him little good.
In class, he couldn't help but stare at their music teacher. Afterall, she was beautiful. Leslie off-handedly made a comment about a picture lasting longer, but Jess ignored her. For some reason, she smiled at him during a song, and Jess couldn't find a reason not to smile back. She may constantly beat him in races, but she never lorded it over him or anything, and as he looked back to the past few days, she had been nothing but pleasant towards him if you ignored the occasional comment on his attraction towards Miss Edmunds. He decided he'd give her a shot, as a friend, to which Leslie seemed to catch on almost instantly. She sat next to him on the bus, talking to his sister. To him too, he supposed, but he wasn't really listening.
His mind was occupied with other things, such as the odd dreams he'd had leading up to the first day of school. He'd only had another such dream once since, but even so it creeped him out. A month's worth of dreams was plenty enough to implant every detail firmly in his memory, and the resemblance of the girl in the water to Leslie was striking. They both had roughly the same height, the same lithe build and awkward manner of dress, and their hair was the same blond as well. Jess tried telling himself it was just a coincidence to no avail. He couldn't shake it from his mind, even more so because of the latest dream's addition.
Overall the dream was the same, but sounds other than the scream tormented him. At first it was just a bizarre static noise, like when their old T.V. was on the fritz, but as the dream progressed voices trying to be heard over the static made their way into his ears. At first he couldn't distinguish any words, but as his head fell under the water he was assaulted with a single shouting voice, as if the static had been a million tiny fractions of that august figure to whom the voice belonged, and they now joined together in one.
"I am the first guardian of Terabithia, thy humble vassal. The first and the last.Heed my warning, youthful King, this is but a shadow of what will come to be. My power will not hold him off for long. Do not harken to the siren's call; Though her voice is pure the Dark Master's barbs sink deeply into her heart!Take the sword! Open the gate! Save the Queen! Unite the land and put an end to thatloath-full presence now residing in it!"
Despite Jess changing his mind about Leslie, they didn't click much until a few days later when he saved her from Janice, Lark Creek's very own troll. Leslie had been made fun of by everyone for not having a T.V., so she sat in the back of the bus. Where the seventh graders always sat. Whether the seats were previously occupied or not. Jess barely got her out of the way in time. When they got off the bus, she surprised him by saying "Do you think we could do something today?"
May belle, of course, immediately tried to get in on whatever she thought was going on with a "Me too!". Annoying little sister.
They soon managed to stave her off with promises of gifts.
Finally rid of his kid-sister, they tore through the fields, running like nothing else mattered, until they came upon a creek. This can't be right. Jess thought, doubt forming in his mind as he recognized the rope, dangling over the creek like it had been there for ages and intended to stay for ages more. If that is the rope from the dream, well the dream rope broke. If this is the dream rope, it will break. Won't it? Leslie's voice shook him from his thoughts.
"Do you know what we need Jess? We need our own place, where no one will come and mess it up. What if..." she paused to think, "what if we could only reach it by swinging across on that enchanted rope?"
"That rope has been there for ages Leslie, it'll probably break, lets find another way across." he said, seeing images of the broken rope hanging over the stream. He was worried now, the scene was too familiar: every detail etched into his memory from too many dreams, the only difference now was the level of the water.
"Aw you worry too much Jess, it'll hold." and with that, she was swinging across the divide, staring up into the sky and laughing. The rope held, and that put his mind at ease. He even swung across it himself when she threw the rope back to him. For a while, they just wandered through the forest, passing an old rusted out truck on the way. And then they saw it, an old tree fort. Like ruins in the trees, there was a mysterious atmosphere around it, one holding promise of adventure. Climbing up into it, Leslie described a magical land-Their magical land-filled with prisoners of "The Dark Master" and the few free people left in this magical land. As he joined her at the top of the tree, Jess asked "What do we call this place?"
And Leslie looked off into the distance, a thoughtful look about her, and said "Terabithia."
I am the first guarrdian of Terabithia.
Jess almost lost his footing just then.