The Only One

The Existence of Magic

Suddenly in that moment, I knew exactly what he meant by "everywhere." I hated it. I hated everyone and everything in the world except for Jess at that moment. Life really did suck, for some people had better luck than others. And boy, was I ever lucky. "We should get back" I suggested, looking up at the trees of the forest that surrounded Terabithia. "Can't we stay a little longer?" Jess begged with a sense of innocence in his voice that I simply couldn't say no. "Five minutes" I sighed. "What's that supposed to count for?" Jess whined. "You really like it that much here?" I asked, examining the view from the castle. "Well yeah, of course. But it's more that I don't wanna go home than that I wanna stay here" Jess explained. "Ohh.." I said with a puzzled expression. "You can come to my house for a bit if you want" I suggested. "It's almost 8 o'clock" Jess sneered. "Well we can't stay here, it's gonna get dark soon and we won't be able to cross the creek without falling in, hitting our heads and drowning" I stated. "Your house it is" Jess said, rising to his feet. I followed and we ran out into the forest and to the rope.

It had gotten significantly darker since we sat in our castle in Terabithia. Jess grabbed the rope and passed it to me, once I swung across, I threw it back at him. Jess began to swing across and suddenly the lightning flashed and the thunder crashed all at once, startling Jess, causing him to lose his balance on the rope. Half way across, Jess shrieked and let go the rope, falling into the creek. "Jess!" I whaled, jumping in after him. Jess' head popped out on the surface. "Jess! Are you okay? You scared me--" and before I could continue rambling, he interrupted me. "Leslie, I can't swim!" And I suddenly noticed his struggling. "Oh god!" I said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and dragging him to the edge. We both stood on the edge of the creek, glancing at the rope which swung lightly in the wind. "Wow, t-thanks" Jess stuttered, rubbing the back of his head. "No need to thank me, you would've drowned out there! Who wants to go down like that?" I snarled. "Alright let's go" Jess said and we ran through the rain back to my house.

We both stepped inside and began dripping all over my mom's good welcome mat. "Leslie, that you?" I heard my dad's voice from upstairs. "Yeah! Can you come here a sec?" I called upstairs. Jess stood awkwardly beside me. My dad came tumbling down the stairs in seconds and glanced at Jess and I, soaking the floor. "What happened to you two?" he asked with a sorry tone in his voice. "We fell in the creek over by the forest" I explained. My dad wrapped a towel around each of us before continuing. "Don't you got to get home, Jess?" my dad asked. He shook his head. "I was wondering if he could stay awhile? His family isn't being too kind to him at the moment" I asked. "Why, of course" I'll go grab some clean clothes for you two." And with that, he marched upstairs. "Thank you again, Les. You saved my life" Jess thanked me again. "Of course, you would've done the same for me" I smiled. My dad brought us each a change of clothes, pajamas actually, which we changed into quickly. We sat on the couch and stared around at the living room. "What do you do around here, anyway?" Jess asked. "Y'know, since you don't have a TV or anything" he finished. "Well, I spend a lot of time outside. I also read a lot, and sometimes I draw, but I'm no good" I began making a list. "Hmm" Jess stared at the ground.

My mom came pouncing down the stairs in her good red dress and her hair all done up, not her usual look. She usually only dresses up if she's going to a book release or a wedding or something. "Going somewhere?" I giggled. "Oh, Leslie! Didn't see you there. Hi, Jess! I'm glad you're here, I didn't want to leave Leslie here alone" she paused. "Alone?" I questioned. "Didn't your father tell you? It's the anniversary of when we first met tonight, and we're going to celebrate!" she cheered. "Dinner at 8:30 at night?" I stated. "Well, it's traditional" she smiled, when my dad came down the stairs in a suit and tie. "You two gonna be alright here alone?" he asked as he and my mom got their shoes on at the door. It didn't look like we had much of a choice. "I don't know" Jess shrugged nervously. "Well, we were just going to drop Leslie at your house for a couple hours, so we could drop you guys off there if that'd be better?" my dad suggested. "No no, we're good" Jess changed his mind. "Alright see you two in a bit!" and they slammed the door shut tight, before locking it.