A Far Cry {complete}

Little Town part 6 1/2

| This ain't no fairy tale, and I'm no Beauty |

~ 7 years later ~

I sink down onto the floor and reach beneath my bed. My fingers brush against the cool silver of a wooden chest. I lift it onto my bed and pull the key that rests around my neck, inserting it into the tiny keyhole.

I gently raise the lid and reach inside.

In the exact centre is a pile of old photographs of me and Ben. I gently lift them out and sift through them.

The first few are when we were just sixteen. Our faces are filled with joy and adoration as we gaze into each other's faces, the wind blowing our hair and the sunset behind our back. That was a perfect night. I feel a tear slip down my cheek, and I struggle to hold in my sob. Who knew that the person who once brought me so much happiness could now be the cause of my sorrow?

I continue to flip through the photos. There's one of the two of us at a school dance, and I remember the exact look in his eyes when he stared at me. I've never felt such love since. Another photo is of us as we graduated, then on the first day of university. In the last one, ole Ben and I posed as if we were very intelligent scholars with snobby looks on our faces. I grin at the memories.

There is one photo that I don't remember taking, though. The photo seemed to be of when we were eighteen. It is of the two of us standing on a bridge I've never seen, looking out into the distance. Both of us have fear etched into our faces. I clutch onto his arm desperately, and he is trying to block my eyes from seeing.

I grab the photo and lift it up, bringing it near to my face. The bridge looks like the kind that we have here, but I don't remember ever actually going on that one. I rack my brain but nothing comes up.

In the end, I decide to go the library and see if I can get any more information.

I walk into the library and head towards the front desk, placing the photo of the two of us on it.

"Excuse me ma'am, but do you know where this bridge is?

Mrs. Scott, (her tag reads) turns around from her shelving and places her glasses on the tip of her nose. After examining the photo for a couple of seconds she responds.

"Yes, I know where that is. It's about two leagues north away from this very place. Why are you looking for it?"

I pause, "Closure."

She nods sympathetically and turns back to her shelving, and I leave the library.

I'm driving for about 8 minutes, the excitement causing me to speed past the limit all the way to 80. Once I reach the highway I'm at 100 mph. I cruise down it in the hopes of finding out the answers to all of the lies that Ben ever told me.

As I drive, I ponder. Ben had always told me the truth, even when I didn't want to hear it. He was the most honest person that I have ever met, in fact I admired that about him. He never made up anything.

So why was he lying now? Why did he think that this was the one time that he couldn't tell me the truth?

Questions with answers that were just out of my reach floated around my head, and I attempted to push them away so I can focus on where I am going. I just can't force myself to concentrate though, so I continue to wonder.

Finally I turn off of the highway and onto a small path. It leads farther and farther into the woods, until it ends in a bridge. I turn to the right and think that I see a clue, but it is only a red cape floating behind the person who wears it. I ignore it and climb out of the car.

Once I reach the bridge, I see that it's nothing special. All that it really is is a regular wooden bridge over the water in an arch. There's a bench to the side and a few bushes growing around it. I can feel disappointment coursing through me.

There's no way that that photo happened by accident though. Ben must have been trying to tell me something. He didn't want to lie to me, but he could only let me know once he was gone. I knew that now, and I forgave him for his choices.

But boy, did I search for hours at that damn bridge! I must've upturned every single plant that was there looking for a sign, a clue, anything! But there seemed to be nothing at all.

Maybe I was wrong about Ben, I thought. Maybe he never wanted me to find out about that photo, and I was wrong this entire time.

It was when I was turning away that I had one final thought. What if I was looking in the wrong place? What if I had to look on the very bridge itself?

I eagerly turned around to search and just as I did a small flag caught my attention. It was oddly enough pale pink. I fetched it off of the underside of the bridge where it waved and looked for any words.

For Grace, it said in Ben's strong, sophisticated cursive.

I flipped the flag over.

"Grace, I'm sorry that I lied to you for so long. I had to though, I had to keep you alive. This was important. If you do ever read this I want you to know that I will always love you, no matter what happens to me.

Anyway, here is the truth, at last."

I read the remaining words on the page, and when I reach the end, I gasp and drop my flag into the river below.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OOOOOH SUSPENSE. I'M SO MEAN LOL. 

I hope you liked this part, and if you did, comment & vote!

part 6 and the other half will be coming out soon though, so don't get your panties all in a dither 

(LOL)

oKAY ENOUGH WEIRDNESS

I love you lots, buh bye!

~ Indie :)