The Catwalk

-3-

"Come on, it's fine, see?"

Zoey watched as Nick bravely walked out onto the old bridge. Unafraid and so sure - standing up straight and walking like a gymnast on a balance beam down the old rotten wooden boards.

"I can't!" Zoey called from about twenty feet behind him, crawling on all fours along the bridge and trying not to look down. Trying not to think about how far below them the bottom of the deep ravine really was. Trying not to notice that every time the wind blew, the bridge swayed and shook just a little, making a deep groaning noise like an old grandfather getting up from his easy chair.

"Stand up!" Nick shouted at her. "You'll be fine, Zoey! See look, it's easy!" He walked along the rusted metal rail back towards her, arms stretched to his sides for balance, only wobbling a little as he went - showing off.

The wind blew and the bridge shifted and creaked, moaning loudly. Zoey shivered, and she could feel her stomach dropping. She couldn't be afraid though. She needed to impress Nick.

After a deep breath, Zoey finally pushed herself up from her hands and knees and slowly inched forward half a step at a time - still squatting down as she went, her hands right in front of her, ready to catch herself if she faltered.

"It'll be a lot easier if you just stand up!" Nick called to her, the wind carrying his voice away, creating a ghostly echo in the ravine.

Zoey took a deep breath and stood up straight, keeping her eyes pinched shut in fear.

"See, you're fine," Nick called to her. "Now just open your eyes and walk towards me!"

Hesitantly, Zoey opened one eye and then the other. She picked up her foot and took a step towards Nick.

"There you go!" He smiled at her. "You're doing it!"

A sudden gust of wind screamed through the ravine. Zoey faltered once, but then she regained her balance and began to slowly walk towards Nick, like a child taking her first steps.

"See, it's easy!" Nick exclaimed. "No different than walking on the ground!"

"Yeah, except for the fact that we're, like, 100 feet up in the air!" Zoey exclaimed, trying to make herself sound confident. Trying to joke with him and have fun with it. But meanwhile the only thought that kept going through her head was: Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down.

She couldn't help herself and peaked over the edge of the bridge. She felt her head do a backflip and a sick feeling rose in her stomach. One-hundred feet up. One-hundred feet up.

One-hundred feet down.

"Keep walking," Nick encouraged her on. "We've got to make it across."

He started to walk away from her, towards the far side of the bridge. Zoey tried to keep up with him, but her feet would only allow her to go so fast. "Wait up, Nick!" she called to him. "Why are you going so fast? Slow down!"

But Nick only just sped up more, and the wind carried Zoey's voice away from him. She wasn't sure if he was even able to hear her calling to him.

And then, caught in the wind, she thought she could hear something else.

"Nick!" she shouted as loud as she could, over the near gusting wind now. A storm was blowing in. A summer thunder storm. It must have been. That could be the only explanation for how windy it had suddenly gotten.

"Nick!" Zoey yelled. "Is that a train whistle?! Do you hear that?"

But he couldn't hear her. He was too far along the bridge now. And as Zoey watched him go, still trying to keep up with him, she started to notice a warm burning sensation in her throat, and a deep feeling of unease settled in her stomach.  There was something off about him. Something off, but she couldn't quite place it. Maybe it was his clothes. Maybe his hair. Maybe something in the way he spoke. Something just seemed... off.

And for some reason, she just couldn't seem to shake the feeling that she was watching an old movie.

"Nick!" she called one more time, one last attempt to get him to hear her and slow down and wait for her.

And then she heard the whistle again.

Toooghhhh Toooooghhhh!

It was much clearer this time. Closer. There was no way she could be imagining it.

It was getting closer.

Zoey turned to look behind her, half expecting to see a train light coming up the track, but there was nothing. Of course there was nothing. She was being silly. Trains didn't run on these tracks. The old bridge wasn't even connected into the system anymore. Trains couldn't run on these tracks. She must have just been hearing a whistle from a train at the station - carried in the wind somehow. She was just being silly. Being up on this bridge, the sudden gusts of wind. She was just freaked out a bit. That was all.

She turned back around to face forward, but something was wrong. Where was Nick? He hadn't been that far ahead of her, had he? But now... now he was... where?

He was gone! Had he already made it across the bridge? But there was no way he would have been able to get across that quickly. They had only been half way across the bridge when he had... (disappeared).

"Nick!" Zoey shouted into the wind.

But it was useless.

Nick was gone.

Suddenly, the train whistle came again, and this time it sounded like it was right behind her. Zoey flipped her head around to look behind herself, and this time she did see a light. A train light, trundling down the tracks toward the bridge!

Toooghhhh Toooooghhhh!

No! It couldn't be! It wasn't possible. Trains didn't run on these tracks. They couldn't. They couldn't. They...

Toooghhhh Toooooghhhh!

But there it was, an old steam train - tons and tons of metal and fuel and rage - barreling furiously towards the bridge.

"No," Zoey whispered in disbelief.

But there it was.

She broke into a run, sprinting down the tracks. Away from the light. Away from the whistle.

Away from the train.

It was coming for her.

The whole bridge started to shake beneath her as she ran, her feet slipping on the wet rusty rails and damp rotten boards as she went. She couldn't fall. She couldn't slip. She had to get across.

She took a fearful peak over her shoulder, and light blared in her eyes, blinding her.

She wasn't going to make it. The other side was still too far.

Toooghhhh Toooooghhhh!

The train was right behind her now, no tracks left between the two of them.

She couldn't outrun it.

It was too fast. It was too close. She could feel the heat radiating from the engine sinking into her body.

"Oh God," Zoey whispered to herself, taking one last deep breath of the hot July air.

And then she jumped.

-THE END-