Chapter Three: The Bridge

Does Shayde find Annabelle and Trevor, and rescue them?

Chapter Three

 

It has been at least a day. Shayde still continued his search, calling Annabelle’s phone desperately over and over again, hoping she’d pick up. No service? Probably. Not a good sign.

 

Finally there came something pretty obscure. A large, dark castle-like building, with many towers. It cascaded over the trees, in plain sight from far away. What ever it was, it looked like the place that held the answers Shayde was looking for- the place where Annabelle and maybe her brother could be.

 

Picking up speed, Shayde ran as fast as he could to the castle. When he got there, he was met by a cliff edge. No way across.

 

Then, he saw it. A thin, rickety bridge, with many wood panels missing. Though it was probably an invitation to death, Shayde decided to cross… it was the only way to save his friends.

One step at a time… wrecking the already wrecked bridge in the process. The chance of not making it across was getting larger, while the chance of rescuing Annabelle and possibly Trevor were also growing. He had to make it… he just had to.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Settle down Trevor, it’s ok,” I patted my sobbing brother on the back. “We’ll find a way out, don’t worry.”

We have been in this cell for about a day. We had little food; just leftovers I luckily found in my jacket pocket. Time was wearing away… and so were our lives. I was begging to doubt we would make it… and what about Shayde? What happened to him? I really hope he was alive… he doesn’t deserve to die.

 

Where was he, if he was even alive? If he was, will I ever see him again? Will Trevor and I ever see anyone again? Or are we caught in a trap of death?

 

All that ran through my mind was questions. I was incredibly worried about Trevor; he was incredibly weak. I was also extremely worried about Shayde too. Man, I just really hope they would both be ok.

It wasn’t long -maybe an hour or so- before I heard a knock on a small window in the wall. I was kind of reluctant to look over, fearing it could be someone terrible taking us in to be supper. But, I soon changed my mind when the person yelled my name… It was Shayde. Thank God he’s ok!

 

I stood up and walked over to the window. “Shayde!” I cried in delight. “How did you find me?” Shayde examined my dirty face and clothes. “I walked through the forest for a day now, until I found this place. Looked pretty suspicious; never seen anything like it-- so I decided to check it out. Thought you might be here. Thank God I was right!” He smiled and quietly smashed in the window. He jumped into the cell. “Shayde, I’m so happy your ok,” I said as I gave him a hug. “Gosh, Annabelle, you shouldn’t worry about me, look at you!” He was right. I looked pretty bad.

 

“Shayde… my brother’s here.” I walked over to Trevor, who was hiding shyly in the shadows of the chamber. “Trevor, this is Shayde. He came along with me to help find you. He’s one of my best friends.” Trevor walked over to Shayde. “Hi.” He said nervously, looking up at him. He was a lot taller than Trevor, though Trevor was kind of short for his age and Shayde actually was pretty tall. Taller than me, anyway.

 

“Hey, Trevor! Are you ok?” Shayde knelt down so that he was shorter than Trevor. “No,” Trevor answered. He proceeded to tell him everything he told me when I found him.

 

“Oh my gosh,” gasped Shayde. “That’s-- that’s crazy. I can’t believe that happened! We have to get you guys out of here, before anything else happens…”

 

Shayde slowly drifted off as we listened intently to the sound of footsteps outside. They were heavy, as if the person who the feet belonged to was pretty fat. But, sooner or later, they died down until we could hear footsteps no more.

 

“Okay, what’s the plan?” I asked Shayde, pacing back and fourth. “How do we get out of here?” “I don’t know,” he answered. “But I will.”

 

Trevor piped in. “How about we climb out that window you broke up there?” “Good idea,” said Shayde, “But it’s kind of high and… I’m not that tall.” “That’s ok, I have an idea!” Trevor beamed with that enthusiasm of a ten-year-old.

 

First it was Trevor out the window, then it was me, and lastly Shayde. I guess tying out jackets together to form some kind of rope really did work. Gosh, Trevor really did have the ideas.

 

Climbing out of the window was the easy part. Now, we had to get over that bridge.

 

 

“Wow,” I gasped, seeing the bridge sway like a tree in the breeze. “How that heck are we supposed to get over that?”

 

Shayde stepped forward. “I already did once. It was nerve-wracking but I made it safely. It took a long time. Let me go first; I don’t want you guys to get hurt.” He placed his left foot on the bridge, carefully and steadily.

 

He got about one-fourth of the way before motioning for me and Trevor to come. I kept Trevor behind me and held his hand to make sure he was there.

 

The bridge cracked, and many wood panels fell as we crossed, to plunge into an endless fall.

 

I hope that wont happen to us.

 

Shayde stood and waited for us to reach him in the middle of the bridge. “Not so bad, right?” he encouraged. “Uhuh! Look at this thing! You must be crazy to think that!” I said, which was not helping.

 

 

“Guys, I’m scared…” Trevor chimed in about three-fourths of the way, facing the other direction. “Something’s coming…”

 

I looked in his direction. He was right; something was coming our way, pretty fast. What ever it was, I had no idea. All I know is that we needed to move, and fast.

 

“Shayde!” I called. “Run! Take Trevor with you now!”

He obeyed, picked up Trevor, and ran to the land. I wanted Trevor to go with him because he was closer to the land… and I wasn’t.

 

“Watch out!!” screamed Shayde over the now-growing heavy footsteps of the huge creature behind us. I made sure to watch my step. He had already made it to the other side with Trevor, thank God.

 

I was another story. I was getting really bad cramps in my side from the combination of running, adrenaline, and fear. I couldn’t go much farther without crashing, but then again I didn’t have much farther to go. I was not going to give up now.

 

The thing was now stepping on the bridge. To me, it looked like an oversized rhino. Not a very good sign, but at least it wouldn’t be able to make it over the bridge.

 

As soon as the “rhino” got two feet on the bridge, it snapped. The roped holding it to the other side fell, and I screamed as I snagged onto the wood, for dear life, a dang foot from land. Good side: the fat rhino was dead and gone.

 

“AHHHH!!!!!!” Shayde, Trevor, and I shouted in unison.

Then, Shayde ran forward like a torpedo, and reached out his arm. “Grab my hand!” he shouted. “Grab my hand, GRAB IT NOW!!!”

I was incredibly scared that if I loosened my grip even a little bit, would just fall to my death. But, I had to do something. So, I slowly reached up, and grabbed his hand. “Trevor, grab my foot and pull!” he instructed. Trevor grabbed his foot, pulling with all his might.

 

I landed somewhat on top of Shayde, a sheer five seconds from death. We were still holding hands. And this was in front of my brother. How embarrassing.

 

“Uhh, Annabelle, you okay?” asked Shayde, a little red in the face. I don’t blame him; I myself was burning up in my cheeks. But why? It’s not that I like him or anything. He’s one of my best friends.

 

“Yeahh… I coughed. “Thank you so much guys, I would have been gone without you.” I looked at Trevor and smiled. He smiled back. I looked over at Shayde, his face only inches from mine. We looked at each other awkwardly for a few seconds, then got up, awkwardly.

 

To tell the truth, I’d have to do some thinking about Shayde.

 

 

* * *

 

 

We started on our way, not knowing where we are, or where we’re going. All we know is that it’s away from here.

 

There were no disturbances for the next say… hour and a half or so. Shayde, Trevor, and I walked, talked, and laughed about everything imaginable. It was a good way to pass time, and a good way to have fun too.

 

 

But what we saw next made our eyes jump almost all the way out of our heads.