A/N: Greetings all! I apologize for the lack of updates, I have been extremely busy with life and a novel of my own…anyway, I also discovered a HUGE kink in my plot, but I think it should be smoothed out now. The beginning is rather bad, but hopefully it gets better towards the middle/end.

Chapter 25

A Change in Pattern

THE NEW EARTH

Lark Creek, Virginia

Hot dog in hand, Samantha skipped back to her grandmother.

"I found food!" She squealed in victory as she sat back down on the blanket.

"Where did you find it?" Judy asked anxiously. Samantha rolled her eyes.

Grandma can be so over protective. She thought to herself.

"I got it from the pastor over there. They're free for everyone who wants one."

"Oh." Judy sighed in relief. When she looked over again, the hot dog was half gone.

"My oh my Sammy, you sure are hungry!" She commented.

"Yep." Samantha answered vaguely. An eerie feeling had washed over her, as though somebody was breathing down the back of her neck. When she looked over her shoulder, however, she found nobody anywhere near her. All the children, it seemed, were over in the far corner of the field, playing tag.

Finishing her hot dog in two bites, Samantha snuggled up against her grandmother and closed her eyes, trying to block out the memories of her parents that had suddenly flooded her mind. As she thought about her parents and Terabithia, a tear slid down her face, and she wondered if anybody had ever felt a pain like this.

--

Several feet away from Judy and her mourning granddaughter Jess Aarons sat in the shade, watching Maybelle and Joyce Ann play tag with a group of kids from Lark Creek Elementary. His parents sat silently beside him, Mary reading a book, Jack looking in the same direction his son was. Feeling bored, Jesse plucked a blade of grass from the ground, absentmindedly rolling it between his thumb and forefinger. He had seen a few kids from his biology class hanging out near the lake, but instead of going to talk to them like his mother had suggested, he had stayed over with his parents. And, like he had assumed, he was absolutely miserable.

The minutes ticked by at an almost painfully slow pace for Jess; like the last few minutes before school got out for summer vacation, when the teacher seems to talk just to see how long she could keep the students there before they snap. At the moment, Jesse was extremely close to snapping.

The morning had passed and now the sun was blazing proudly in the middle of the sky. The weather had decided to embrace the fact of Lark Creek welcoming summer, and the sticky heat had put an oppressing mood on the picnic's inhabitants. In fact, many had left. A few people lingered in the remaining shade, though most, including all of his sister's friends had gone home a while ago.

Jess found himself dozing in the muggy afternoon heat. Part of him wanted to stay awake, but the other part of him wanted to surrender to his dreams, to see if maybe they would bring him a moment of peace or happiness. In the end, he gave into the sticky, sleepy fog the heat gave him, lulling into the sleep he desired. Unfortunately, the dreams he had wished for were not pleasant, but rather a mismatched puzzle of confusion and pain…

--

He was running. He was running harder than he had ever run. Pain filled his joints with every stride he took, air couldn't get to his lungs, and the demons who wanted to destroy him got closer with every inch he ran, instead of disappearing. But that was okay. As long as he got to her in time, everything would be okay.

The forest was dark and dense, filled with vines and quicksand and evil creatures. This wasn't his Terabithia, and it scared him. But he didn't have time to feel scared. He couldn't be scared, not when she needed him to be brave. Once he got to her, it would be okay to be scared, but he wouldn't be. She would force the demons away; she would know what to do. If he got to her in time, the demons wouldn't have a soul to steal…

But she was faster than him, running away from him and the demons that used him. She couldn't see him, he realized after a moment. She only saw the Dark Master, chasing her towards death.

"Leslie, please stop!" He shouted desperately. "Leslie, it's me! It's me, Jess!"

His pleas made her run faster.

She was disappearing, running away from Terabithia and back towards the rope.

"NO!" He howled, "Please don't! I can't live without you, Les!"

The demon grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him sinking his icy claws into his shoulder blades, slicing the fabric and the skin. He screeched in pain as the monster's venom entered the wound it had created. It laughed an evil, hollow throaty sound.

"Do you want to see what I'm thinking, Jess?" It hissed, and slowly, as the venom filled his blood stream, so did memories…

"Mrs. Meyers, this is Leslie Burke who will be joining your class."

"Hey, it's Jess, right?"

"Are you following me?"

"Terabithia."

"Your friend Leslie's dead."

"She loved you, you know."

"The things that girl came up with…"

"I wanna come with you."

"And a guy who can stand up to a Squogre is scared of a Hoager?"

"Looks like you're the fastest kid in the class now, huh?"

"It hurts, Jess!"

"I don't have a choice…"

"I meant to give you Prince Terrian but…I just can't seem to give him up…"

"Not really."

"Did you ever dream about a girl named Samantha?"

"I seriously do not think God goes around damning people to hell. He's too busy running all this!"

"Somebody's here who's not supposed to be, and they're about to come in contact with you."

"Wow, suddenly I die and you turn into a big grump."

"Mom, this is Leslie."

"So you're the infamous Jess! I'm Judy. Leslie tells us you're good with a paint brush."

"This isn't one of your cartoons or whatever. This is serious! Why can't you make yourself useful and draw me some damn money? Now get your head out of the clouds and do as I say!"

"Just close your eyes, but keep your mind wide open."

The claws were ripped from his shoulders, and he fell to the ground, panting, his muscles shivering as the pain ripped through him like a blade. He sat on his hands and knees on the opposite side of the creek, the side Leslie would never reach. He was in too much pain to do anything but watch, but he couldn't close his eyes, he couldn't wake up, he couldn't do anything but watch his best friend die like he had always imagined she had, ever since the first few months after her death. The hurt and disappointment as she wondered where he was or, maybe not that exactly. Leslie wouldn't be that sad if he wasn't there, would she? He didn't really know. All he knew was that she was by herself, and he wasn't there to help her when that horrible accident came to claim her life. He watched as she grabbed the rope and jumped on, swinging safely until she reached the middle of the river. The wind shook the tree, the branch groaned, and the rope stretched for the final time, snapping pathetically under Leslie's weight –tiny, tiny Leslie!—and sliding from the tree where it had hung for so many years. He watched her flip like an acrobat through the air, plummeting towards the water –and her death—without so much as a scream or a plea for She simply fell, numbly, lifelessly, as if she were already dead, and someone had thrown her body from the tree. She seemed totally oblivious, as if she had expected this to happen. Only when she was centimeters from the murky water did she show any sign of distress, the smallest sob managing to slide though her seemingly silent lips. Then, she crashed, with a hollow splash. Nothing but the rope, frayed, tattered and broken, emerged from the depths.

He knew. This imagined but realistic scene of her death had haunted his dreams for more than one evening, so much that he could now recall every detail when he was fully awake. The only things that sometimes varied were the scattered memories the demon showed him, but he had had so little time with Leslie, really, that there wasn't much material it could work with.

However, something was different this time. When he looked across the bank once more, having the tiniest inkling of hope, instead of seeing nothing but trees and earth, he was a person.

A young girl, it seemed. From the size of her body, it was feasible that she was around Maybelle's age. She was kneeling on the edge of the creek bed, near where Leslie had fallen, and it looked as though she was crying. Her sobs traveled loudly enough that they reached his ears faintly on the other side of the creek. He couldn't see her face, but he could see her hair. It was long, past her shoulder, and dark. A deep brown, almost black.

The exact same color as his.

The girl now seemed aware of his presence. She looked up, and even from across the creek, he could clearly see her eyes. They were red rimmed and teary, but he still knew that color. He had only seen the exact coloring on one person, but it was because of the person who had possessed them that Jess could remember them so clearly.

From across the creek, he stared into Leslie Burke's eyes.

Panic and longing filled his chest as he stared into the painfully familiar eyes. They looked back at him with the same disbelieving longing, as if she knew his eyes as well as he knew hers. Though something about her expression was different than his. It wasn't like she was seeing the same eyes on a different person, as he was, but rather, she was seeing the same eyes on the same person. The trust that radiated from her was astounding, almost frightening. By looking at her, he could see that she was mourning for Leslie, that this strange, trusting blue-eyed girl had seen her die like he had, and it hurt her too. She had known Leslie, she had loved her like he had, but the relationship had been different. Platonic, like their friendship had been until that rainy Friday. That dark haired girl had relied on Leslie so much, and the pain in her eyes could be easily read.

He stared thoughtfully at that little girl for what seemed to be forever, trying to contemplate her familiarity. It wasn't because she looked like Leslie. No, he had seen her before. Her, specifically.

What was her name? He knew it, he knew it! It was right there, but for whatever reason, he could not remember it. The anger, confusion and agony swirled around him like a suffocating cloud, as the mournful replicate eyes stared into his with as much pain and loss as his held. Soon, the girl began to slip away, and she began to be swallowed by the forest, disappearing with the quickness and ease Leslie had.

No! He thought. Come back please! How do you know her? Who are you?

But the little girl was already gone, and he was alone again, left with nothing except Leslie's death.

Jesse was awoken from the heartbreaking dream by the sound of a scream that was not his own.

A/N: Tada! I know it's shorter than the average chapter, but I've kept you all waiting so long that I wanted to get SOMETHING posted for you guys. I know this chapter probably wasn't worth waiting for, but I hope you'll review anyway and tell me what you liked and disliked. :) Also, after careful consideration, I decided to delete "Broken". However, I still have a desire to write another story, and I'm mulling over about five ideas in my mind right now. I plan to write all of them eventually, but hopefully one of them will be up by Thanksgiving. Thanks so much for reading!

-Emily