Disclaimer- I do not own any rights to Bridge to Terabithia

Chapter 4

Leslie wasn't sure what could possibly possess someone to get up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday and proceed to do some form of very loud manual labor. After all it was Saturday and more than a bit cold outside. Shouldn't that warrant staying indoors, at least until a more normal hour? Yet, from underneath her covers and the pillow squashed over her head Leslie could still hear what sounded like someone chopping wood. It wasn't long before she heard the cries of her baby brother Matthew. Once he was awake there was no point in staying in bed. With a sigh Leslie crawled out from underneath her covers and immediately regretted it. The cold sent her scurrying for her robe. PT looked up from his position at the foot of Leslie's bed, watched his master run frantically around the room then returned to his slumber. Once secure in the warmth of her robe and slippers Leslie walked over to her window. She was determined to see who was up so early making such a racket.

She peeked through her curtains and looked around for the disturber of the peace. At first she couldn't see anyone. Whoever was making the noise seemed to have disappeared. From the corner of her eye, however, she caught the movement of a figure. Glancing towards Jess's house she saw him. Wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt Jess Aarons was carrying an armful of wood towards the back of his house. He vanished from view for a moment but quickly reappeared. Even from her window Leslie could see he was drenched in sweat. He must have been chopping wood for some time to work up such a sweat. She couldn't help but find herself attracted to him. Then again Leslie had been attracted to Jess for some time. The feelings she had for him never vanished, they just seemed to take a back seat to other things or other people.

"He must be in trouble" she said to herself. Jess's father often had him chop wood in the winter when he was being punished. Leslie could only wonder what he did to earn the punishment but she felt sorry for him. Megan's story from the evening before kept her up most of the night. She couldn't stop thinking of what her life would be like without Jess. What would she have done if Jess had died years ago like Casey? How would she have survived without him? That first year in Lark Creek would have been awful without Jess. Yet, in the past year the two had spoken not so much as a word to one another. Megan knew the awful pain of losing someone so close and was trying desperately to get Leslie to understand. As she watched Jess continue his forced labor she had a longing to run out to him. She wanted to hug him and tell him she was sorry and have things back to the way they used to be. Was that even possible now? Leslie could just hear Megan screaming at her had she actually asked the question. Megan's tragedy made a mark though. Leslie was beginning to realize she couldn't just let her friendship with Jess die. Things happened and words were said but that could be overcome.

Leslie turned away from the window and decided to go downstairs and eat breakfast. Her parents were bound to be up and PT wouldn't object to an earlier than usual meal. As soon as she turned the knob PT jumped out of bed and was immediately at her heels.

"Well look who's up" she said as she bent down to give her pooch a hug. Making her way to the kitchen Leslie heard her father going out the front door. Bill Burke loved to read the paper with a cup of coffee. It didn't matter if there was any food to eat with the coffee he seemed to find the greatest pleasure in just reading the paper and drinking coffee. Leslie understood the peace he found in the moment. It was the same when he was writing or when her mom was writing or when she was writing for that matter. She continued to the kitchen and found her mom busy making breakfast.

"Morning Judy" she said as she quickly relieved her mom of her baby brother.

"Morning Les" she said smiling. "Didn't expect you to be up so early" she said happy to have use of both arms again. Judy was proud of her daughter. Though going through the awkward and annoying teenage years she was clearly taken by her brother. She happily volunteered to babysit while Judy and Bill had a night out. They were grateful to not only have a daughter they trusted but one who willingly volunteered.

"Well, I couldn't sleep" Leslie said as she danced around the kitchen with Matthew in her arms. "I figured I might as well get up." Judy nearly laughed out loud when she heard that. Leslie had never been one to just get up. Even as a child she lingered in bed for as long as she could. She would never forget the times Jess pulled her out of bed to wake her up. Judy and Bill were just glad it didn't bother him to do it as it saved them the hassle.

"You seem awfully chipper this morning young lady" she said as she cracked several eggs into the frying pan. "You have something planned for today?" Leslie looked to her mom with a look of surprise.

"Just a ton of homework, study for a test, that kind of stuff" she answered. "Besides why shouldn't I be happy?"

"No reason" Judy answered. "It's just I was kind of worried about you last night. You and Megan for that matter." It suddenly occurred to Leslie that her parents probably heard the both of them crying the night before. The walls were notoriously thin in the Burke home. One couldn't so much as pass gas without the whole house knowing about it. PT found himself convienently blamed for such transgressions on more than one occasion.

"Everything's okay" Leslie said. "Megan just told me a really sad story about her past." Judy stopped scrambling the eggs for a moment and looked to her daughter.

"Are you sure everything is okay Leslie? You know you can talk to us about anything." Leslie knew her mom was concerned and had a right to be. Hearing two teenage girls crying has to be somewhat alarming to a parent.

"Megan was just trying to get me to understand something" she replied. "Don't worry it was actually a good thing." Judy nodded in understanding and returned to the eggs. Leslie walked with Matthew into the living room. Her father was hanging up his coat after retrieving the paper.

"Morning Les" he said surprised to see his daughter. "It's only just past six and here you are with your brother. What gives?" Leslie gave her father a slightly irritated glance.

"Why is it so unusual that I would be up at six o'clock on a Saturday?" she asked as Matthew began to fidget.

"Well, normally you prefer to keep later hours on the weekend" her father replied. "I've seen you sleep past noon before you know." Leslie sighed as her brother began to cry. "Here, I'll trade you" Bill said as he handed Leslie a book. "I found it out on the porch you must've dropped it on your way in last night." Leslie handed Matthew to her father and took the book. She slowly made her way to the golden room and sat down on the floor up against the wall. She stared at the cover and ran her hand over it. It wasn't one of her school books as she thought. In her hands Leslie held one of her favorite books, The Chronicles of Narnia. That in and of itself wasn't strange. To be holding a book she received from her grandmother as a child, one she cherished; a book she loved so much that she chose to share it with the one person that meant the most to her in the place that meant the most to them. This book was special. She carefully opened the worn cover and gasped. Leslie remembered the picture she had drawn, the two hearts each with a set of angel wings and a crown. In those early months of their friendship Leslie had begun to have different feelings for Jess, feelings that stretched beyond friendship. Of course she never told him or showed him the picture that would have been unthinkable. Leslie clearly remembered thinking that Jess would figure she was crazy and never talk to her again.

Yet, here she was several years later staring at a new drawing in the same old book. The drawing depicted a bridge that led the way into a majestic kingdom with a castle far off in the distance. Birds flew amongst the crowd of Teribithians. Standing just in front of the bridge was a beautiful queen. She had the wings of an angel and wore a gorgeous crown. The queen was smiling and radiated warmth and love. Around her neck was a small necklace with a peace symbol attached. The artwork was impressive. She always admired Jess's gift as an artist but he was clearly much better than she remembered. Leslie felt a tear fall down her cheek as she gazed at the picture. Jess had brought the book back to her. He had gone to Terabithia and found it, drawn a breathtaking picture of her as queen and returned it. Leslie was overwhelmed with the longing to run to him. Why did they ever let their friendship fall apart? Clearly Jess still had feelings for her and she was more than aware of her own emotional attachment to him. Maybe Jess was sending a message with the drawing.

Leslie looked back to the picture. She quickly focused on the peace symbol on the queen's necklace. In the sky Jess didn't simply draw birds; instead he specifically depicted doves. Leslie continued to scan the picture going over each and every detail. In the crowd where various Terabithians awaited for their queen's crossing there stood a boy. He was the only person in the crowd that didn't quite fit. Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt he seemed out of place. Yet, Leslie saw that the boy was wearing a crown; not a crown of gold but one crafted from olive branches. Jess was sending her a message. The symbols of peace were blatantly obvious now. A peace sign, doves and the olive branch all intermingled in the portrait. Jess wouldn't go to the trouble of crafting such a picture and deliberately leave it for her to find if he wasn't trying to say something.

Leslie jumped up and ran through living room to the front door. She bolted out of the house so fast her father barely had time to say her name. The outside air felt like little daggers of ice but Leslie didn't care. She ran as fast as her bedroom slippers would allow. She crossed over the drive that led up to the Aaron's house and saw him. He was heading back to retrieve the last pile of wood when he saw her. They both stared at each other. Leslie thought it must be a comical sight with her in pajamas, a bath robe and slippers and Jess in a t-shirt and jeans drenched in sweat. Jess, of course, was the more caught off guard. After placing the book on her porch the night before he wished for such a response but never believed it would actually happen. Yet, Leslie was standing in front of him, in the freezing cold with the book in her hand.

"Hi Jess" Leslie said as she began to shiver.

"He Les" he replied. Leslie couldn't help but blush. Plenty of people called her 'Les' but Jess was the first to use it frequently. She always regarded it as his pet name for her.

"I see you got the book" Jess said feeling instantly stupid for saying it. 'Of course she has the book you idiot' he chastised himself.

"Yeah, thank you" Leslie smiled. "I saw your drawing, its beautiful Jess" she said now causing him to blush.

"Thanks," Jess wanted to ask if she understood his message but felt afraid. What if she didn't see it? He didn't want to embarrass her or himself. "Did you…um…"

"I got the message" she answered cutting him off. "Peace." Smiles lit up on both their faces as their hearts began to race. Leslie suddenly forgot she was cold and Jess began to sweat even more. In their awkward silence the teens were unaware that their reunion was being watched ever so closely. Mary Aarons and Judy Burke developed a good friendship over the years. They shared the ups and downs of raising children and Mary proved quite helpful once Judy found out she was pregnant with Matthew. They also shared the heartache of watching their children drift apart as adolescence took its toll. Yet they both held firmly to the belief that Leslie and Jess couldn't stay apart forever no matter how hard they tried. As soon as the two mothers saw the pair talking it was a race to see who would call the other first.

"Mary, did you see them?"

"Hi Jude, yeah I saw them."

"I was wondering why Leslie was so happy this morning. How do you think this came about?"

"I don't know but Jess was in a surprisingly good mood this morning considering the punishment he got for coming home late."

"Well we can't just let them stand out there in the cold."


"No, Leslie's in her pajamas and Jess isn't even wearing a coat."

Jess and Leslie were fumbling over their words when they heard the front door of the Aarons house open. Jess felt for sure it was his father coming to remind him that he was grounded and had work to do. Leslie thought the same. To their surprise and relief Jess's mom came out the door and quickly made her way to them. Mary smiled warmly as she looked at her neighbors daughter.

"Hi Leslie" she said giving the girl a hug. "It's good to see you again." Leslie felt positively giddy at the reception she received and a huge sense of relief.

"Hi Mrs. Aarons, it's good to see you too" she replied as she returned the hug. Mary next turned her attention to her son.

"Jess, I want you to go get cleaned up" she said in a more stern tone. "Take a shower, put on some clean clothes, you know the drill." Jess felt the air in his bubble fly out of him. He didn't expect his mom to order him away like that especially considering how she welcomed Leslie. After being separated from his best friend for so long Jess couldn't simply let this opportunity slip by. He had to do something.

"Mom, please can't I just have a few minutes to talk with Leslie…" Mary quickly cut him off.

"Do as I say young man and I suggest you hurry" she said. "Once you're ready you'll be joining Leslie for breakfast at her house."