The Bridge

Do you know how people say that dreams have meanings? I have heard that quite a lot, mostly from Zane. You see, my dreams are unlike anyone else's. They show me events that have happened or will happen. They tend to mostly be about people and rarely about inanimate objects. Tonight, I had a dream that was the exception.

My dream was about a door to a bridge. Wow, a bridge. Big deal, right? Wrong! My definition of a bridge is very different than a normal person's. Normal person's definition is a formation of some sort of material that goes over a body of water or some other obstacle that happens to be in the way. I'm not talking about that kind of bridge. The bridges I am talking about are invisible to most humans, unless you are one of those very unfortunate few. These bridges have many different uses. Most often, they are used for bringing people, creatures, and other things to another world or dimension. I won't go into elaborate detail because, frankly, it would take too long.

As I was saying before, the dream was showing me a door and how it was changing as time went by. At first it was just a plain dirty door but then it started to change. The door surface started to splinter and crack. The cracks widened over time and eventually the door was too weak and broken to stay up straight that it collapsed and the bridge was gone.

After seeing it, or rather dreaming it, I knew two things for certain. The first was that the door was still standing but would soon fall. Soon meaning in a few hours. The second was that I needed to wake up, now, which is honestly harder then it sounds.

After having the dream I was immediately brought into another one and then another one and so on. I tried jolting myself awake, which usually worked, and even tried pinching my arm - which was more in vain than anything. I also tried to concentrate on my bed sheets which have never failed me before. It was just my luck that it wasn't working this time, I mean of course it wouldn't. No, I only woke up because someone was shaking me awake.

With the jolt I had been waiting for, I bolted forward on my twin bed, breathing hard. I shakily pushed my sweaty hair out of my face and look down at the hands on my shoulders. I could tell it was my friend, Zane, without even looking at him, the warmth of his hands always gave him away. He was a walking and talking furnace.

"Geez! You're making so much noise! Are you okay?" He asks.

With my heart continuing to race, I take his hands off my shoulders, climb off my bed, and quickly start grabbing random clothes and objects that I may need and put them in my backpack.

"What are you doing?" I hear the trace of worry in his voice.

"We have to leave and go to the bridge. The door is breaking." I say in a rushed voice.

"What? I anchored it myself! There's no way that-"

"Nothing's impossible." I toss him the golden backpack. "Just change clothes, wake up Jake, and fill another backpack with food. We need to go now, before it's too late!"

He stands there for another second and then is gone in a flash, doing what I told him to do, I hoped. I quickly throw on a random pair of dark jeans, a gray t-shirt, boots, and a jacket in case it got cold. You never quite know what to expect when going into a bridge. I jog out of my room and down the stairs to the kitchen all the while putting my hair up in a horrible ponytail.

Walking into the kitchen, I see Zane dressed similar to me and closing the second backpack. From what I could see, there was no Jake.

I was about to ask Zane where my brother was when he says, "He wasn't in his room and there was no note either." He turns and faces me, giving me a weird look. "I think he may be with Valerie."

"Why would he be with her," I check the clock. "at three o'clock in the morning? And why are you giving me a weird look?" I pick up a note pad and start scribbling a note for someone to find later when they notice we're gone.

"Well they are dating, so it's not so weird that they would be out. Besides, I think they said something about a midnight premiere tonight. The look is because you have several pieces of hair out of your pony tail."

I finish the note and angrily brush my sandy hair behind my ear. "Come on. We don't have time for this. And for the record," I look back at him and eye his much shorter black hair. "I happen to not care all that much about what you think about my hair."

I take out the hair tie and redo it with all, or almost all, the strands in the ponytail this time. As I do this, he walks over to me with one backpack over his shoulder and the other outstretched towards me. I take it, swing it over my shoulder, and grab his arm to transport us to the door.

Before we even see the door, we can hear the whispers, at least I could. I wasn't so sure if Zane could. We glanced at each other and then at the splintering door. I gulped. I took the door handle and swung it open. The whispers stopped suddenly as we looked behind the door. It had changed since my friend Valerie and I had been in there. It looked more like an abandoned factory then anything else. That had been weeks ago. We had planned to get rid of this bridge sooner but had gotten distracted by Gabriella, a witch, who had gotten both Val and I out of here.

The place was completely transformed into nothing. It was just complete and utter darkness. I shudder involuntarily.

"Do you, mmm, see anything?" I asked, nervously.

If someone would have heard me say that, they probably would be thinking along the lines of "How could he possibly see anything? It's all darkness!" True, but we aren't your average teenagers. We aren't even completely human. We are both supernatural beings that have control over an element and also have a several minor abilities. One of Zane's is seeing in the dark.

"No," is his only reply as he steps forward and lights up his hand with fire. "You coming?"

I walk right in with him and hear the door swing shut behind us, giving a final click. No turning back now. "I think we're in a maze."

"Well that's just great," I say annoyed. "I'm stuck in a maze in complete darkness. Yay!"

He doesn't say anything. I change the subject.

"What were you doing anyways before you woke me up?" I asked, curiously.

"Watching TV." He shrugs. "I couldn't sleep." I furrow my eyebrows together in worry.

"Are you having nightmares? Are you stressed? Is everything okay? Are you-"

"Shhh! Geez! It's fine. I'm okay. It's just lack of sleep. It's nothing."

I don't believe him. I know what it's like to have dreams that make you not want to sleep. I understand that more then anyone because that's what I used to do when the visions first started happening to me. I had avoided sleep, trying to save myself from seeing the horrors of the dreams.

I'm about to tell him that I might be able to help take them away or make him forget them, but I'm cut off by a loud sound behind us. We both stop and slightly turn towards the noise, listening for the sound again. Nothing.

I was just about to say something to him when the fire in his hands went out and we were plunged into thick darkness. I tried to grab Zane's arm, but he wasn't there, only the emptiness in his place.

Fear starts twisting in my stomach. My heart bounds quickly in my chest as I start to panic. Calm down. Calm down, I think to myself. I take a few deep breathes. Think, Emma. Think.

Okay. I couldn't see but that was minor, I could handle it. I wasn't hurt, nothing was broken. Zane was gone, though. That was the big problem. But how are you going to find him? You can't see a thing and you're in a maze.

Whoosh!

Something hits me in the chest and sends me sprawling on the ground. I gulp air into my lungs and stand up trying to get a sense of who or what hit me. I close me eyes, shutting out the illusion that I could see, and listen to the sounds surrounding me. I use my control over the element, water, to feel for the thing, that I hope, was in front of me. It may sound crazy, but I could feel every liquid in the creatures body. It was a weird sensation I will admit, but it was useful since I couldn't use my eyes to see it.

As I was getting a sense of the creature, I felt its tail reel back and try to swat at me again. I jump forward, missing the tail and try to grab for my sword out of the thin air. It doesn't work. That was just my luck. When I needed my sword the most, it fails. Instead of slicing down the creature like I wanted to, I end up bumping into it.

I felt its slimy scales against my face and heard its heart beating in its chest. I step back quickly, shivering in disgust. Then I heard a slight hiss come from above where I could feel its head. Fright put its icy fingers on my back, going up my spine. The creature was a snake and a big one at that.

I tried to think of another idea but the snake was done playing around. It went in for a strike. I swung to the side, ducking just in case. I could heard the snake's large head hit the ground. Turning around, I started running in hopes that I was going the right way.

Of course the snake pursues me. I had hoped it would have been dazed for a bit longer, but my luck isn't that good. Oh! And another thing. Don't ever run with your eyes closed in a labyrinth because there are turns and dead ends. If you are running for your life in a pitch black maze, you are going to face plant a wall.

As you can image, this happened to me. My nose, left hand, and chest got the worst of it. But since I'm me and I'm not fully human, I was running pretty darn fast when I hit that wall and it hurt, a lot. Total damage? My left hand was smashed, my nose broken, and my chest felt like one big bruise.

After connecting with the wall, I bounce back several feet, collapsing on the floor. I'm left on the ground trying to desperately suck in a breath but unable. It isn't until the snake reaches me that I am recovered enough to do so, but that doesn't mean I get to. The snake immediately upon finding me, gets its strong jaw around my leg, sinks its fangs into my leg, and lifts me into the air.

Any air that I may have gotten back into my lungs escapes when I feel the pain of its bite. My eyes snap open as tears spring into my eyes and overflow down my cheeks. This is really too much for me right now. I would have screamed but I couldn't since I was busy trying to live by making sure I had oxygen.

I must have only been in its jaws for about a minute, gave or take a few seconds, when light suddenly appears out of nowhere below me and flies into the snakes head. Fire. The snake opens its jaws and cries out in pain while I fall into arms below.

You know how in movies when a girl falls into the arms of a boy and it appears to be really elegant and a really romantic moment. Well, I hate to shatter that wonderfully image but it's not all that romantic. When someone lands in the arms of another, the one falling gets their head snapped back up from the force of landing into the other persons arms. And if the person catching the other has their head down looking at them, their heads will collide. Which was the last thing I needed to add to my list of injures, a headache.

"Why is your head so thick? It's like getting your head smashed into a rock." I think about a lot of ways I could reply to that but all I do is moan in pain. I could practically feel Zane's eyes moving across my body looking at my wounds. "Wow! What happened to you? What, you disappear on me and get hit by a car?"

"A wall actually." My voice has that thick tone that comes with crying. I hated when that happened. I blink my eyes several times and look up at him and actually see him from the light of the fire still on the snake. Pity and sympathy are shown in his eyes. I look away, not wanting to see any of it.

Without saying another word, he carefully sets me down against the wall and turns to face the snake. I turn away from the fight and zone out the noise and focus on my wounds. My nose was still bleeding, I could taste it as it flowed onto my lips. My chest still really hurt and my hand was a bloody mess as well. And my leg. Let's just say that it was very much broken. It hurt like you couldn't even imagine and bleeding a lot. I could barely look at it.

I gingerly took my left hand in my right and started to heal it. The bones mended back together, the cuts sealed themselves, and my blood receded back into my body. When it's all healed up, I begin to heal my nose and the bruises on my chest. It was by this time that Zane returns and squats down next to me.

He fingers lightly touch my leg. I suck in a breath between my teeth, making a hissing noise. "Man, it got you good, didn't it?" I don't answer. He takes a deep breath. "Here. Put this into your mouth." He grabs one of the backpacks that were next to us and hands it to me. Without being told what to do, I put the strap into my mouth and bite hard.

Placing his hands on my leg, he starts putting the large pieces of bones back into place. More tears stream down my face. The strap in my mouth muffles my screams. It's over soon. Less then a minute roughly. When the pain ends, more blooms in my head as I seen a vision.

It's a private conversation between Gabriella and Zane. They start out with small talk but it soon grows serious when Brie, Gabriella, apologizes to Zane about what she said yesterday. Its short, awkward, and completely something I should not have seen but its over before I get to feel too guilty.

I return to the present to see Zane waving his hand in front of my face. "You ready to go?"

"Y-yeah." I quickly get off the ground only to sway to the side.

"Wow! Easy there. You don't want to fell again do you?"

"No. Definitely not. Let's go." I turn to the right only to waiver. Was this the right direction or was the other way?

"Come on this way." Zane tugs on my arm turning me the other way. At least one of us knew where to go. Speaking of going somewhere.

"Where were you? One minute you were there and the next you weren't! What happened?" I ask angrily. Realizing that I had blamed him for what happened. It was ridiculous since it was my fault, but still, he wasn't there!

"Where was I?!" He incredulously looks at me. "Where were you?! You vanished! I thought that maybe, mmm, well I thought that you might have-"

"What? I abandoned you there! Like I would do that!"

"As if I would do that to you!"

"Are you forgetting what happened that time when we were-"

"You're bring that up! Seriously! I told you what happened! It wasn't my fa-" He breaks off mid word and straightens up. That should have been a sign for me to keep quiet and listen as like he was doing but I hadn't taken the hint. I was way to worked up.

"It was so your fault!" I was yelling now. "Don't blame the-" He puts his hand over my mouth. This only increases my anger. I yank his hand off and open my mouth to tell him off when I see him put one finger to his lips, signaling to be quiet.

We both wait and listen. One second. Two seconds. Three. There! Several pairs of feet were hitting the ground, running towards us, fast. And when I say fast, I mean really, really fast! Panic sinks its claws into my chest, installing its feeling, but I push it down as I should have done before with the snake. Without saying a word, Zane shrugs off his backpack, passes it to me, and puts me onto his back.

This time when panic raises in my chest, I welcome it. I hated running this fast. I was a fast runner, as I had said before, so fast that I would beat any world record ever made if I ran for sport. I don't because even if I did hold myself back, people would know something was up. Even after everything I said about me being fast, I'm considered slow by my kind's standards which is kind of sad.

And then there's Zane. Lucky him. One of his other minor abilities is super speed, so he goes really, really fast. The reason I hated it so much is because I get sick riding in a car, imagine being on his back going so much faster. Yeah. Not. Fun.

However, Zane isn't as fast as those chasing us now. They would catch up sooner rather than later. Why did our luck have to be so bad? Why couldn't we have good luck?

I could all of the sudden hear their breathing. They were coming closer and closer each passing second. Until, what do you know the labyrinth just ended. It was if we hit a pane of glass, or more correctly, went through a pane of glass. One second, we were in total darkness. The next, we were on a gray cliff. How random and lucky was that?

Zane sets me down. I quickly fall to the ground and make a big show of breathing in deeply. Ahh! It was good to be on still ground.

"Oh, stop being so dramatic. It wasn't so bad."

Ping!

My neck snaps up so quickly that it cracks. My eyes meet the amused, dark blue ones of Zane. I look down to see his hand hovering over an iron railing. I give him a confused look. He shrugs in response.

I stand and walk over to him and look down below. I gulp. More inky darkness. "How a..." I swallow again. "H-how far do y-you think that is?"

"No way to tell." I nod. "We should camp here tonight." I glance up at him in surprise.

"Really? Here?" I glance down the cliff again.

"Its not that bad. This is probably going to be the safest place in here for awhile."

I wince. Yeah, safety was hard to find in bridges. "Okay. We'll make camp but only if I take first watch." He looks as if he is about to protest but thinks better of it. He starts taking out the sleeping bags and puts them parallel. He then creates a fire in between them.

"Good night, Zane."

"Night, Emma." He grumbles.