A Bridge And A River

• Caitlin Page, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2016

The bridge and its reflection in the water made a perfect uninterrupted oval, the water still despite the hot breeze. There was a figure right in the middle of the bridge, standing there, waiting. The bridge was of an unusual design, mysterious and alluring. Looking past the bridge, there was another figure standing by the edge of the river. If you went around the other side, it disappeared.
Only a certain kind of people were drawn to the area. A whole township had sprung up around the bridge and the river. No one knows when the bridge had been built, it was just something that was always there, yet it never seemed to grow neglected or weak. It didn’t even get dirty. Many stories surrounded the bridge and the river. Ordinary people were afraid to even go near the township, fearful that something bad may happen to them. See, people had drowned in the river. But their bodies were never recovered. They would just disappear into the depths and never resurface.
Once a girl jumped into the river to try and save her brother. All through life you are told, never enter the river. Do not touch its waters and never ever go near it on a solstice, equinox or the night of a new moon. Well, this girl ignored all the advice passed down from generation to generation. She jumped into the river straight after her brother. People nearby heard the most horrifying screams, the screams of tortured souls. It was as if the water itself was attacking her and dragging her under. One eyewitness swore that he saw Felicia, an elderly woman who had drowned in the river five years previously, reach out and drag the young girl down to its depths. The girl never resurfaced, but three days later, the house where she lived was attacked. A wave of darkness crashed upon her home and tore her room to shreds. Her parent’s said that it was as if the attackers were looking for something, something that their daughter had.
Most people shrug the stories off as harmless superstition but even they avoid the bridge. Many historical professors and persons interested in mythology were drawn to the site. They believed it was sacred, special, important. But it didn’t last. People began to go out of their way to avoid the town and many left. Those who remained became sullen and withdrawn.
The town may as well have been on another planet at least, until the Sphinx arrived. Then everything changed. Turns out, the world is stranger than anyone first thought. We’ve learnt to treat myths, fairy tales and legends as facts. Still, none of us really understands what they want. All we know is that we have no freedom. To them, we are nothing, we are slaves. They think they won the war when they threatened our children.
Oh, how wrong they are. The war isn’t over. It’s only just begun.