Worlds Apart
A Bridge to Terabithia Fan Fiction
Author's Note: Yes, I realize that my chapters are getting shorter. I also realize that this chapter was quite a long time in the making. I apologize up front for both of those things. School and work have robbed me of most of my free time. Also, as always, if there are any errors in my story, please don't hesitate to correct me via review or PM.
Props: Many thanks to my reviewers: MadTom, NarnianMelody, Sharkie, haha169, snowstargirl, and SunBurst. Also, thanks to my readers who haven't reviewed; you know who you are!
Disclaimer: I don't own the world of Terabithia. It originally belonged to Katherine Patterson, but now may be split among Disney and other corporations. No profit was, or will be received from this story.
Chapter 3 – Friends
(Please read and review, it makes us better writers.)
"Sorry?" Leslie's nose scrunched up in confusion. "Sorry for what?"
Foster was still bowing. "I—I've been following you. I'm really sorry, I just wanted to see what life here was like, and…"
"Wait," Jess interrupted. "Why did you call us 'your majesties'?"
"It was to show proper respect. You are the King and Queen of Terabithia, after all."
Leslie's eyes widened. "How did you know that name? I haven't said it to anyone! Oh, by the way, you don't have to bow anymore."
Foster straightened up. "Thank you, milady. The reason I know about Terabithia is because, well, I come from there. It's a real place, the same as Earth is."
Jess had long since dropped his stick, realizing that the boy in front of him didn't mean them any harm.
"Hold on, what did you say your name was?"
"Oh, I forgot. I'm Foster, Foster Newham."
He extended his hand to Jess, who shook it. "I'm Jess Aarons," he replied, "And this is Leslie Burke."
Leslie raised her hand in a half-wave and beamed. "Nice to meet you!" she said.
Foster relaxed as he felt the last remnants of hostility fade away into the cool evening air. "It's an honor to meet both of you," he said. "Now, you're probably wondering what I'm doing here."
Jess glanced upward at the orange tones cast by the setting sun, then over at Leslie.
"We should go. It's getting late, and I still have to do my homework."
Leslie agreed, and then beckoned to Foster. "Come on! You can tell us on the way."
The three walked side-by-side, out of the vibrant forest and through the sprawling, grassy meadows.
"As I've mentioned before, I'm a Terabithian," Foster began. "I've lived in Terabithia all my life, at least as far as I know. My father is one of the founding members of The Flame, which is an organization made up of Terabithians opposed to the Dark Master's rule."
"Whoa, that must be pretty cool," Jess remarked.
Foster grimaced. "Not really. He's not home very much, and when he is home, he hardly says a word to me. "
"I can relate," Jess mumbled.
Foster didn't really know how to respond to that, so he continued on.
"Anyways, I'm not very good at storytelling, but here's what happened: Yesterday, I came home from training with Edgeto find—"
Leslie couldn't resist. "Training?" she interjected. "What's that?"
Foster blushed slightly. "I was—am—training to become a Terabithia warrior. Not for the Dark Master, though! And Edge is my teacher. He's one of the best all-around warriors in all of Terabithia, at least in my opinion."
That was enough to impress Jess. "Whoa!" he exclaimed. "So do you know karate?"
"Huh?"
"Karate! Like…" Jess chopped the air a few times, halfheartedly imitating the action movies he had seen on TV.
Leslie giggled. "Nice, Jess!"
Jess's face turned crimson at her comment, but his demonstration got the point across.
"Oh…" Foster said. "Yeah, kind of…"
"Can you show us?" Jess asked.
Foster shrugged. "If you want."
Jess and Leslie both smiled and nodded.
"All right. Stand back a few paces so I don't accidentally hit you."
Foster stepped away from the two, crouched slightly, and took a deep breath in preparation. He closed his eyes and thrust twice, once with each hand. He finished it off with a spinning roundhouse kick. "A little rough," he thought to himself. "But it's been awhile."
He relaxed his body and turned around to see two pairs of eyeballs bulging out of their sockets.
"That was amazing!"
"Thanks," Foster replied. He felt a little embarrassed at the attention he was receiving. "Do either of you know anything like that…karate?"
Jess and Leslie shook their heads ruefully.
"I wish I did," Jess said. "There's more than one person I'd like to take care of." His expression darkened. "Let's keep moving, we're almost there."
The three continued their trek: Two towards home and one away from it.
A thought popped into Leslie's head. "Oh! Sorry for interrupting your story, Foster. You can keep going now."
Foster inclined his head. "Don't worry, I had forgotten about it too. Now, where was I? Oh yeah, so I had just come home from training. My dad wasn't around, but that was pretty typical, so I didn't think anything of it. I made myself a light supper, then headed for the bedroom.
"As I passed through the living room, I was ambushed by the Dark Master."
Leslie gasped. Foster shot a sidelong glance at her before continuing.
"The Dark Master brought out my father, in chains…"
Leslie gasped again. Foster expected it this time, but he pressed on. He feared that if he lingered for too long over the details, he might… become emotional.
"He offered to make me a deal. If I would return the books that Edge had stolen, he said that he'd let us go."
"What were the books about?" Leslie asked.
"They dealt with place-shifting, or shifting, for short. It's the term for moving from one world to the next. You guys—humans—can do it naturally, but Terabithians have to be taught how. Apparently the Dark Master doesn't want anyone leaving Terabithia."
"What about you?" Jess asked. "Are you human or Terabithian?"
"Honestly, I don't know," Foster replied. "I think I'm a little bit of each. I'm a human—I think—but I've lived in Terabithia for as long as I can remember. Nobody's ever told me anything about myself…" Foster trailed off into a thoughtful silence.
Jess nodded, satisfied with his answer. Leslie's mind, however, was still on Foster's escape.
"Your dad," she started. "Is he still…?"
A pained expression cut across Foster's face. "Yeah," he replied. "Edge and some others are searching for him right now, but I don't know if they'll have any luck. In the meantime, I've got to hide out here on Earth. It seems that I'm number one on the Dark Master's hit list, and it wouldn't be fair to endanger anyone else by hiding me."
"What about your mom?" Leslie asked. "Where is she?"
"She died a couple of years ago."
Leslie put a hand to her mouth. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't—"
"It's all right, it doesn't bother me anymore. As for how she died, nobody knows for sure. Rumor has it that the Dark Master poisoned her, but no one wants to show too much interest in her death, or they might have the same fate."
Leslie and Jess were both in shock.
"That's horrible," Leslie whispered.
"Yeah, well, that's the Dark Master." Foster allowed for a moment of silence before continuing.
"Anyway, after shifting to Earth I was pretty worn out, so I fell asleep on the ground. I slept until late afternoon today. When I woke up, I was pretty hungry, so I ate an apple from a nearby tree. That's when I heard Jess calling for you, Leslie.
"I followed you two around because I was interested to see what life here is like. I watched you discover the truck and the treehouse, become the first humans to enter Terabithia in a long time, and deliver an inspiring, if short, speech to The Flame. After that, I kept following you, got discovered, and here I am!" Foster spread his arms wide.
"So it's all real then?" Jess wondered aloud. "Terabithia and everything?"
Foster laughed. "I sure hope so, or else I've been living in an imaginary world for the past twelve years."
"Wow… After the trees blew, it seemed like real. But I never would have guessed that it, you know, was." Jess's face flushed as he realized that Leslie had never doubted the existence of Terabithia for even a second.
As the group reached the top of a particularly tall hill, Foster tried to shield his eyes from glare of the setting sun.
"Do you see that? What are all those buildings for?"
Leslie giggled. "Those are our houses, silly!" Her expression turned mischievous as an idea struck her. "Hey, I'll race you there! On your mark, get set, go!"
The three took off down the hill, towards the seldom-used dirt road that connected the two houses with the rest of civilization. Leslie was clearly the fastest, but Jess and Foster were evenly matched.
As the Burkes' black Mercedes came into view, Jess put on a burst of speed. Foster quickly found himself bringing up the rear. He didn't get the negative feelings he usually got whenever he lost at something, though. He just felt… happy.
The three slowed to a stop at the shaded crossroads between the houses. They were breathing hard, but grinning from ear to ear.
The smile slid from Jess's face as he noticed how dark it had become. "I'd better go. My dad's gonna kill me for being out so late!" He turned and began to jog towards his house. "See ya!" he called back to them.
"I'd better go, too," Leslie said. "I don't want my parents to freak out or anything." A thought occurred to her. "Hey, are you planning on sleeping in the forest again tonight?"
Foster shrugged. "Probably. I'm a good enough woodsman that I shouldn't have any trouble taking care of myself, especially in this mild weather."
"No way! You can stay with us. We have an extra bedroom and everything. C'mon!" Leslie turned and began to jog towards her house.
Foster pulled up alongside of her. "Don't you have to ask your parents?"
"Oh yeah…" Leslie deflated for a moment, then brightened. "But they won't mind. I'm positive."
Leslie hopped up the steps to the porch, yanked the screen door open, and walked inside with Foster close behind.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Her parents were sitting next to each other on top of their king-size bed, typing rapidly on their laptops. They both looked up as Leslie walked in.
"Hey, Leslie!" Mr. Burke said. "We're both on the final chapter of our books. At the rate we're going, we should make our deadlines with time to spare."
"That's great, Dad!" Leslie said.
"Yeah, I'm... hello; who's this?" Mr. Burke had noticed Foster standing a respectful distance behind Leslie.
"This is Foster Newham, my new friend," Foster stepped forward into the room. "He's a… foreign exchange student."
"Nice to meet you, Foster. I'm Bill, and this is my wife, Judy." They both shook Foster's hand in turn.
"It's an honor to meet the both of you," Foster said, echoing his words from when he had met Jess and Leslie.
Bill and Judy grinned at the eclectic choice of words. Leslie grinned as well, because she recognized what Foster meant by them.
"So, where are you living while you're in the States?" Judy asked.
"Well, uh, there were some issues…" Foster stammered.
Leslie picked up the slack. "The family he was going to stay with decided last minute that they didn't want him. He's sleeping in the forest right now. Would it be all right if he stays with us?"
Bill and Judy looked at each other for a second, then shrugged.
"Of course," Judy said. "You stay as long as you want. If there's anything you need —clothes, school supplies—just let us know."
Foster tipped his head forward in a half-bow. "Thank you very much for your hospitality. I promise I won't cause you any problems."
Bill waved him off. "Don't worry about it. It's our pleasure."
"C'mon," Leslie said to Foster. "I'll show you your room!" She grabbed Foster's hand and pulled him out the door, but not before she mouthed "Thank you" to her parents.
Bill and Judy smiled, shook their heads, and turned their attention back to their laptops.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Foster sprawled out on the twin bed in his temporary bedroom. As he reflected on the past day, he realized that it had taken a strange turn of events. He went from getting caught following the King and Queen of Terabithia, to making two new friends, to finding a place to stay. Truth be told, he was impressed by the kindness and generosity of Jess, Leslie, and her parents.
"If all people on Earth are as nice as they are, it's no surprise that most humans prefer to stay here rather than visit Terabithia."
He shifted into a more comfortable position on the bed. The room he had been giving was sparsely decorated in dark shades of green. A bed and a roof above his head were more than enough to meet his needs, though. He couldn't ask for anything more.
A single stream of moonlight shone through the open window, lending a peaceful atmosphere to the room. As his eyes drooped closed and he drifted off to sleep, Foster realized that he had finally found something that he'd been looking for all his life:
"Friends."