Bridge To Terabithia

The Last Night

A/N: I am completely revamping the story. This chapter was edited by B-Corvus Corvidae –M. Give him a shout out, eh?

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Jesse Aarons sat on his front porch, gazing up at the sky. It was as though God had had some unfortunate accident while carrying a palette of paints, spilling bright and vivid hues of deepest crimson, day-glow orange, sunburst yellow and, at the sky-sphere's zenith, the onset of the solemn blue depths of night's cloak being drawn over the sky. Here and there stars twinkled tentatively, as though afraid to show themselves for stage fright.

Jesse smiled thoughtfully. He picked up a sketchpad and drew.

Although it was only a rough outline that his pencil easily produced, there was something of the landscape's inherent beauty still residing within it. The picturesque scene before him was just so unremittingly vivid that it was impossible not to draw it right, and Jesse felt as though the drawing had been hiding in the white paper just waiting for someone to draw it; the dark crowds of trees, the mountain-pocked horizon, the few clouds that were still around in this good weather and even the Burke house across the street.

But only so much can be done with pencil. Once Jesse felt he had the essence of the landscape captured on the page, he turned to his color pencils. He knew he could never quite get the deep crimson and day-glow orange that lay before him, but anything worth doing is worth doing properly.

While he was staring at the landscape, trying to choose just the right shade for that mass of forest which was so dun green as to be black, a darker patch of blackness moved through the shadows, flitting with such fleet of foot as to be almost invisible… at least, if it had feet, whatever 'it' was. Jesse laid aside his sketchpad and pencils.

'Think,' he thought to himself. 'You've just seen a shadow and you don't even know what it is. I bet you think you're really brave just marching into the unknown like this, huh? Think!'

And he thought… for less than a split-second. The call of adventure, the horn-cry of the unknown had always been the perfect bait for Jesse. It wasn't so much to do with his mind as his blood; the instinct of curiosity and impulse-action ran in his veins. He had about as much control over it as a flea does of the dog it lives on.

The sun had almost set completely, and the relentless onwards march of night's inky blackness made every tree's shadow look like some new and terrifying monster. Quickening his pace and zipping up his jacket properly to fend off the biting cold, Jesse moved on, hoping that in the least, should any monster attack, it should have a flashlight.

He knew the way. This was the path to the Bridge. Looking down, Jesse could just make out, by the ghost-light of the moon filtering down through the tree branches, some footprints in the dirt. They were human, unless there is a monster out there, which wears trainers. Although this was highly unlikely, it tells you something about Jesse's anxiety that he wasn't giving up on that possibility just yet.

The silence pressed in on Jesse, and he felt it like a car in its crusher. The tonnage of un-sound in the air squashed his spirit as well as his ears, and Jesse felt that, if he didn't break the silence, it would break him.

"Whoever you are, show yourself!" he ordered bravely, the sudden burst of sound bolstering Jesse's courage. "This is private land!"

'Well… almost,' he reconsidered.

Whoever the footprints belonged to, they didn't seem to be making much of an attempt at covering them up; the tracks led straighter than an arrow with no smudging or vegetation in the way. Jesse followed them, realizing as he did so that the castle lay ahead.

There was not a living soul present outside the castle. However, Jesse could hear, just on the edge of audibility, loud and unsuppressed sobs emanating from… where? The tree house; it had to be. Grabbing the rope, Jesse went up.

"Who's there?" he asked before poking his head in, just in case.

"It's… it's just me." Jesse breathed a sigh of relief; it was only Leslie. However, something was clearly wrong. As he looked into the tree house Jesse saw a blur of movement; Leslie was hiding her hands, her arms buried in the coat she wore. "I just came out-" –her speech was interrupted by a chest-wracking sob- "-to do a bit of thinking."

"Don't tell me you expect me to believe that, Leslie," Jesse answered, trying to keep the contempt out of his voice. "Please… don't lie to me."

Jesse sat down next to Leslie, and she swiftly turned away, stifling another sob and wiping away the tears with her coat lest Jesse should see them up-close. It was too late, though; even from the tree-house entrance he'd seen the tears piled up in her eyes, making them glimmer and shine.

Leslie shook her head vehemently, eyes closed tight, making her blond hair swish into Jesse's face as he drew nearer, trying to console her.

"It's… nothing, really. I'm perfectly fine. I guess I'll go back home now."

"Leslie, wait!"

Leslie gave a gasp of shock. Jesse had grabbed onto her hand as she'd got up to leave, pulling it from her coat. It was clear for him to see the cuts on her wrists; the ugly black and red of freshly spilt blood trying to congeal.

"Leslie…" He looked at her with eyes full of pleading, willing Leslie to tell him why. She looked at him askance, her visage a rectos of apprehensive fear and sorrow. Jesse could see now that her eyes were red from the crying.

"Give me back my hand," she said, slowly and coldly, trying to dam up the emotion before it broke her. Jesse obliged, and Leslie hid her wrists again in her sleeve.

"Leslie, you've got to tell me-"

"I don't have to tell you anything," said Leslie harshly. "But… but I choose to…" she said, her expression softening. Leslie went back to sit with Jesse, and looked him firmly in the eyes. "I tell you this on the one condition that it remains a secret between us."

"You have my word as your King," said Jesse solemnly, returning the stare just as steadily. "Now tell me, Leslie… why?"

"It's my parents," she began, every word a heart-wrench for Leslie. Sometimes she paused, quelling the rising sobs. "My own parents… they don't care about me. All they care about is their blasted stories!" Leslie suddenly shouted. Her anger quickly dissipated when she saw Jesse, calm as a pond on a windless day.

"You mean they don't pay you any attention?" he asked earnestly. Leslie nodded, a look of utter dejection and defeat lying heavily about her.

"They won't talk with me… heck, they won't even eat with me anymore. Whatever important thing I have to tell them it's 'remind me later, honey' or 'not now, dear'. They didn't even listen to me when I was being bullied… you remember?" asked Leslie, this time her eyes doing the pleading. "That time you were away at your grandma's?"

The inevitable truth dawned on Jesse. It didn't take a brain-dead woodlouse to work out what was happening, now that she'd told him these things.

"And you think the answer is to cut yourself?" he asked, keeping his tone rock-steady.

A single tear emerged from Leslie's eye, bunching and then rolling down her cold and pale cheek until it dropped to the floor below, splashing on the floor.

"I… I just don't know anymore. I cut myself because it's like the only thing I have control over. I have no control over my parents, after all," she added, laughing in a way that had absolutely nothing to do with fun or humor. "I have no control over anything in my life except whether or not I bleed… or whether I die." Jesse sighed sorrowfully.

"Leslie… I'm your friend. Why didn't you tell me about this? You can trust me, because we're true friends, right? True friends share each other's problems, but I can't do anything if you don't tell me."

"I know you're my friend, Jesse… and I'm your friend too… your true friend. But… but…" Again Leslie's face contorted, all the pain she'd felt washing back into her mind. "But there's no way you could know how it feels to be turned away by your parents… have them blame you for everything that's going wrong, just because you want them to pay you just a little bit of attention."

Jesse was astonished. He'd never imagined that the Burke family was like this. Indeed, that time when he'd seen them painting their living room… Jesse remembered the laughter, the sheer joy of that moment… one big happy family.

"You're right. There is no way I could know how that feels," Jesse answered, looking deep into Leslie's eyes. "But one thing I do know is that you don't really mean you want to kill yourself. Please tell me you don't mean that," he said desperately.

"I wish I did," said Leslie, her voice sounding empty and alone. "I can't take it any more, Jesse. There's nothing left inside me to stand up for myself… nothing but despair… loneliness… sadness. I want to commit suicide, but I can't… I can't…"

Her shoulders shook, the sob's tremors making Leslie's entire body tremble as she collapsed into Jesse's arms. Jesse accepted her, embracing Leslie tenderly.

"You don't need to worry anymore, Leslie. I'll do everything I can to help you, and I won't let go until you know in your heart that you're better again. I can't let you end your life because… well, that would be the end of me too. I only keep going because of you, Leslie."

The silence was almost absolute. Jesse's words were calming Leslie bit by bit, until she pulled back a bit, allowing both of them to gaze into each others' eyes.

"Leslie… I can't put this any other way. I love you."

And the waterworks started all over again, only this time Leslie's tears were more of joy than sorrow.

"I love you… I love you," she repeated to herself, over and over as though she couldn't believe it. Finally coming to terms with it after having cried into Jesse's shoulder, Leslie pulled herself upright again, her eyes shining with tears. "Jesse… I love you too. You have no idea how long I've waited for you to say that. You have no idea…"

Jesse held Leslie close, enfolding her in a gentle hug. However gentle it was, there was a kind of tender fierceness in the way he held her; a clear message. She's mine, and I'm gonna protect her from everything; come rain or shine, Heaven or Hell.

"You're never going to spend a night alone again," said Jesse. He didn't know where the words were coming from; he just wanted something to say to Leslie to prove his love, and the words were there, just waiting to be said… just like the picture. "I'll be everything you need and more. This is officially your last night away from me."

There are moments in time when everything is perfect, and everything that has happened in the past is now so clearly only there to make this single moment. In such moments life was first created on Earth, David felled Goliath… and Jesse kissed Leslie.

'Think!' said Jesse's hindbrain again. 'Don't just kiss her; you could wreck the moment if she doesn't like it!'

And he thought… for less than a split-second. But, in the end, he had about as much control over this action as a fly in a hurricane. Jesse just went with it.

Leslie, although surprised, reacted to the kiss in the way Jesse had been hoping so much that she would. Neither of them knew how to kiss properly, but such intimate contact was enough to let the floodgates of unspoken emotion pour out between them, and finally they understood their love for each other.

'Somebody loves me,' thought Leslie, as she felt Jesse pulling away and pulled him back to keep the kiss going, wanting this moment to last forever. 'Somebody actually loves me.'

"Thank you so much, Jesse," said Leslie, after the kiss had reluctantly ended. "You're all I want. Please… don't ever leave me."

"On one condition," said Jesse, smiling slightly; "don't you ever leave me." Leslie smiled back. Jesse realized that this was the first time this whole night that she'd smiled, and somehow, even though it was in the pitch-black of night, a little sunbeam of light lit up Leslie's face.

So they fell asleep together, the two lovers still nestled in each other's arms. The darkness didn't matter, because they could feel each other rather than see. The cold didn't matter, because they shared their warmth…

…and the loneliness didn't matter anymore, because they were together.

The moon shone on through the night, casting its silver beams onto the sleeping couple as they lay in that nightlong embrace. In their sleep, Jesse and Leslie shared a dream; their love didn't allow them to be parted, even in unconsciousness. They dreamed of the only thing that could possibly be better than this.

They would be together… forever.