Chapter 6

Crossing Bridges

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Whitney stood like a lone pigeon on the town-side of the bridge. The rest of the group had already crossed and were waiting for her to give it a go. The bridge wasn’t really a bridge. It wasn’t like someone had decided that a bridge to cross was needed and built one. The ‘bridge’ was just a fallen tree with the branches cut off of it. Tommy stood on the other side, giving Whitney a frontal view of herself, as she contemplated crossing it.

The rest of the group stood by silently watching and waiting and Tommy was doing his best to remain patient with her.

I don’t’ think I can do this Tommy, she thought to him. There’s nothing to hold onto.

Just hold your hands out to the side the same way you saw us do it and take your time.

Whitney lifted a foot onto the fallen log and put some weight on it. She lifted herself up and balanced herself on the log, watching herself through Tommy’s eyes, as she did it. She could still see the remnants of her puke drying on her shirt from Tommy’s perspective.

She had ended up withdrawing from Tommy almost as soon as the ride had started, but she hadn’t reacted quickly enough to keep herself from puking. The ride had shifted into gear quickly and it caused an almost immediate unsettled feeling in her gut. Combining the fast, merry-go-round effect, with the elephant ears from earlier had been too much and the dizzying sensation brought the snack back up to the surface.

“Come on Whitney! You can do it,” Riley called out to her.

“Shh! She can’t hear you anyway,” Jessica said.

“So! I felt like saying it anyway!” Riley shot back.

But Whitney could hear Riley and Riley’s words did mean something to her. She liked the little runt. She liked her tenacity and spunk and she liked the fact that Riley seemed to take a liking to Whitney despite Whitney’s deficiencies. It was as if Whitney’s conditions didn’t register to the young girl.

Whitney took a couple of steps forward and then stopped. She was testing herself. She wanted to see how well she could move along the log without losing her balance and was pleased to see that it didn’t seem to be much of an issue. She decided to go forward a little more boldly and she was half way across when the odor hit her.

Smoke!

It wasn’t the smoke of a burning fire, or the smoke of a grill. It was the smell of cigarette smoke, but it was old smoke like an ashtray. Whoever the smell was coming from wasn’t smoking as she crossed the log. They had smoked prior to that, but the wind had shifted temporarily and the scent was brought to her.

I smell it too, Tommy thought to her. I smell that, and I smell sweat. We’re not alone.

Whitney withdrew from Tommy. He was right--being in herself allowed her to see their shadows. There were six of them in all and it looked like they were set up for an ambush.

Six of them Tommy. I think it’s that Decker kid and his buddies. What should we do?

Tommy turned to Jacob and explained to him that Decker and his friends were close by. Jacob got a worried look on his face. At first he didn’t say anything, but his silence didn’t last.

“We gotta go back,” Jacob said. He started to move toward the bridge but Tommy stopped him.

“They already know we’re here. They have to. Riley yelled loud enough for the people back at the festival to hear.”

“So we should get moving, Tommy.”

“You’re not getting me. We can’t outrun them. Not without leaving Whitney behind and I’m not about to do that. She’s the one they’re pissed at.”

Whitney finished crossing the log. She stepped off of it when she got to the other side.

“Call my daad, Jess,” Jacob said. “Have him come meet us here, and tell him we had a run in with Decker so he should bring his shotgun.”

Jessica pulled her phone out of her back pocket. Her shoulders sank as she pressed the button that should have brought it to life. “Battery’s dead. Shit!” she said.

“Dammit!” Jacob said. “I told you to charge it when we were still in the car!”

“Well it normally lasts longer than this. I usually only have to charge it once a day.”

I’m sorry, Whitney thought to Tommy. This is my fault!

“Well, what do we do now?” Riley asked.

“Nothing we can do,” Tommy replied as he ushered Whitney to continue by guiding her shoulders. “Looks like we have more than one bridge to cross today.”