. He had had the same feeling since Leslie and him first discovered Terabithia. Nonetheless, they needed to go home. Jess took May Belle's hand and set off across the bridge.
"Dang it!" Jess said suddenly stopping.
"What is it?" May Belle asked, quite alarmed.
"I left my paints back there. You go on home, I'll be there in a sec," Jess said turning back to Terabithia.
"You're a liar, Jesse Arons!"
"I'll catch up to you later!" Jess was already halfway back. He ran as fast as his feet would take him; it had been a long time since he had run with determination.
"Where did I put them?" he asked himself looking up in the tree he had been in earlier. The paints were perched on a thick branch. Jess sighed. He really didn't feel like climbing up there but…..
"Oof!" he grunted as he climbed up and up. Finally he got to his paints and lightly tossed them down into a bush.
When he got back down on the ground he had an urge. He wanted to run like he had when he was eleven. He wanted to feel the wind rushing through his hair and watering his eyes. So he did. He ran like he never ran before. Around the trees, deep into the forest, near the pine circle…..everywhere.
"I would have a hard time beating that," a voice said startling Jess to the point of stopping.
"May Belle, I told you to go home," he said annoyed. The voice laughed.
"May Belle? Since when have you confused me with May Belle?"
Jess froze. He knew that laugh….he knew that voice. But it couldn't be…..could it?
"Leslie?" he asked softly.
"Finally caught on have you? Good job, Jess!" Jess shook his head. He was having hallucinations. Leslie was dead. Gone. So why was he hearing her voice?
"Hello in there?" she asked.
"Where….where are you?" Jess asked, now trembling.
"Up here. You can see all of Terabithia from up here," she said from above. Jess looked up and nearly shouted. Leslie was sitting in the tree he had just gotten his paints out of. She smiled down at him. Everything about her was the same. The sarcasm, the smile that lit up her whole face, and the long graceful body.
Jess didn't know what to do. This was too weird.