Burn Your Local Church

Crossing Bridges

I started running toward the bride but then jeered back around and realized I'd be more effective if I stood on the other side of the river. I ran over to the opposite side of the bride he was standing on. "Umm...HEY!" I yelled out to the shadow standing on the bridge rail. I threw my arms in up into the cold, dark air and started flailing them. "HEY!" I kept yelling, doing everything I could to get their attention. I didn't even know who this person was, but my only hope at this moment is to save their life.

I watched as the figure crouched down and my eyes stayed locked on the shadow as I saw them put there feet on the bridge. "Please don't move." I mumbled to myself as I sprinted over to the bridge entrance. I was running so fast across the forest floor; I wondered how my brain could keep up and tell me when to dodge fallen trees and half dead plants. When I made it to the bridge entrance I saw the person. They were sitting in the middle of the bridge, their face buried in their hands. I jogged ove to them, trying to take light steps so I wouldn't shake the bridge too much. As I got closer, I realized the person was a guy. He looked up at me, our eye's locked and time froze for a moment.

"Zach?" I said with a shaky and out of breath voice.

"Jamie?" We both had a confused look on our faces. He went to get up and lost his balance, he sat back down and leaned against the side of the bridge. I walked over to him and sat down beside him. I leaned against the side of the bridge too. The steel was cold on my back, but it felt good. After I finally caught my breath and my breathing wasn't as shallow, I looked over at him.

"What the fuck was that?" He just shook his head and looked down at the ground. "No, I want an answer. That was fucking stupid."

"You don't get it."

"What don't I get? You haven't told me what the hell happened yet." Zach lifted his head and looked straight ahead into the forest. He bit his lip and continued shaking his head. I could've sworn I saw a tear fall from his eye.

"I killed him." His voice was quiet, but loud enough for me to hear.

I swallowed hard and just looked at him. "Cameron?" I whispered. I didn't mean to whisper, it just happened. I didn't have enough strength anymore to talk in a normal tone. He nodded his head. A million questions raced around my head and got tangled in my thoughts, but one question stayed and continued to circulate my head. Why? Zach finally looked in my direction, and looked me in the eye. His eyes were bloodshot, and I was certain he was on something. "Were you smoking something?"

"No."

"Bullshit."

"I took like a bunch of klonopin."

"What the hell?" He just shrugged and looked around casually. "Okay, okay, so you killed Cameron?" Zach started biting his bottom lip again and it lookes like it was going to start gushing blood. He just nodded his head again. And then I said it. "Why?"

"I didn't mean to." He said and tossed his hands up. "I mean, I meant to, I just didn't know he would die."

"This makes no fucking sense."

"He's always with you and even though you and me, we don't talk a lot, I saw your perspective change and your vibes changed and I hated it," He paused and looked at me, "it was all his fault."

"You killed someone because he changed my vibes? "

"Not exactly." I could tell he was racking his brain for excuses, I would be too, but there was no way around this one. "I stabbed him, and of course it just hit that one fucking spot where it causes you to bleed to death. He was rushed to the hospital and I bailed and floored it 'till I got home."

"So no one saw you?"

"I dunno." He shrugged. "I wasn't concerned 'bout that."

I nodded slightly while I tried to think of what to say. "Then what?"

"Thats it."

"Did you guys talk a lot?"

"Not really, but we know each other from around town." I nodded. "He's just one of those guys who I just wanna punch for no reason. So it was hard enough to deal with the self restraint everyday, but then seeing him with you literally everyday," I blushed, "fucking pushed me over the edge."

"We don't even talk that much, why does it matter?"

Zach just shrugged. "How'd you even get here?"

"Into your shitty ass town?" He nodded. "I just hopped cars."

"That's efficient." He said sarcastically.

"Obviously it was, it worked."

He rolled his eyes then stood up. I looked up at him and he was looking down at me. He held out his hand and I pushed it away. I stood up and stood beside him. I walked over to the other side of the bridge. The water had rocks jagging out and the water was choppy and a deep color of dark blue.

"Lets get out of here."

I nodded and followed Zach off the bridge and onto the other side of the forest. We were walking side by side, dodging and walking around all the havoc. We walked past the cemetery again, and we were both silent until we walked under the sign that read CEMETERY. Zach and I lookes around the deserted streets before jogging to the other side of the road. We were walking on the practically empty sidewalk when Zach lookes over at me. "Happy birthday by the way."

"Oh shit."