Beyond the river .

I'll fix this

" Mari , Mari! Help me gay this one ! It looks well juicy!" Screamed Milly as she jumped up and down , but my mind was fixated on the voice that I had heard earlier. It was like I was in a different land to everyone else , with only my memories keeping me alive.

" Mari? Mari!" I felt a hug on my back and spun round to see Milly squeezing me to get my attention.

'should have seen it coming .'

I have her a warm smile and looked back up at the trees . " what one?"

" that one !" She shouted pointing to the apple on the top part of the healthy tree , we were both sitting on a strong branch in the tree , only a few meters of the ground , enough so if we fell we would be alright. I was holding apples in my yellow sweater which I had pulled the bottom bit up so it looked like a kangaroo pouch, and we were slowly eating the apples as we went however my sweater would sometimes get caught on the pointed parts of the trees truck and a few apples would fall out jumping down the edge of the tree,like claws scratching to get their apples back .

" I don't think we will be able to get that one!" I laughed . I slowly put my head down to see Milly who was a few branches underneath me, but my eyes got caught on the man at the other side of the river .

" that's him!" I shouted dropping all the apples "he helped me!" My hand was going crazy pointing at the guy across the deadly river. Then an idea popped in my head ,

'The bridge'

" Milly ! Milly! Let's go see him !" I shouted spinning around to see her worried face. " it's okay , he won't hurt you!" I gave her a reassuring smile .

" I don't know Mari , over the river? But you've heard all those stories!" She shouted at me . Everyone else was distracted by the apples they had caught so they couldn't really hear us . I jumped of the branch and slowly climbed down the big apple tree, Milly followed and we slowly, and carefully , walked down the hill and off the path . We walked ever so carefully holding each other's hand tightly, we didn't want a replay of what happened earlier. I walked down near the river and waved but the guy didn't reply - I thought that he couldn't see so I just ignored his ignorance.

" they're just old folks stories !" I smiled at her still walking down to find the broken bridge.

" old... Folks ... Stories?" She looked up at me in confusion " what are they?"

" I don't really know either ." I laughed " he was telling me about them but I didn't really listen" I laughed guiltily " but you want to see him right?" I looked at her with wide , magical eyes . She just stared at me like -

'What the-'

While her left eye twitched and she looked to her side and then quickly back at me . " I-I guess so...?" . She wasn't her bubbly self but that didn't stop me from being excited.

'I should have noticed her mood , I should have noticed that she honestly didn't want to go, then - then...'

" yay!" I shouted throwing my fist into the air while jumping , she looked happy at. my excitement and giggled .

" I've never seen you so happy!" She laughed her hair jumping up and down . " let's go see him!" She jumped up at me hugging me . She looked back at the others then smiled back at me worriedly as we sneaked away from the others .

-

" this is the bridge!" I smiled at her looking down at the brown broken bridge that had a few planks missing . " trust me , it's perfectly safe" I smiled proudly crossing my hands , I then opened them and smiled at her , grabbed her arm that seemed to pull away and hesitate then let me pulled her on to the first plank of the bridge. " y-you okay?" She stumbled on the plank looking down at her feet then back up at me with a worried smile and nervously laughed .

" yeah..." I took another step to the next plank an held out my hand for her to hold, she gripped it tightly then jumped towards me , I could feel her heart beat in her hands as I held them both and stared into her eyes , she was terrified. Her heart beat was manic and beating like crazy like I could almost hear it in my ears.

" are you sure?" Her eyes stumbled along to the next plank that was holding on by a thread, half of it was missing and it was bobbling with the river . It wasn't safe to stand on .

" yes... How are we going to get over that?" She pointed at the next plank.

" Mari?" I ignored Milly and looked straight at the voice , it was him. He stood there at the end of the bridge was such a worried and confused face, shocked and scared.

" snow!" I jumped up and down making the bridge wobble and Milly grab hold of my stomach tightly- like she was never going to let go, I looked down at her , her face scrunched up holding on to me for dear life. I smiled at her and hugged her back for reassurance but she wouldn't look at me.

" what are you doing hear?! " he screamed at me . I jumped onto the plank that was broken and quickly jumped to the next one so I was safe.

" Milly, come on!" I shouted at her she shivered in her spot and placed one foot on the broken plank .

When it broke.

" MARI!" She screamed I held onto the Woden bar next to me to see where she was , underwater. I could see the water gushing into her mouth. She couldn't scream for help but I could still hear her voice screaming inside my head.

" MILLY!" I screamed my hand trying to reach her over the widen bar .

" Mari!" My head spin to Snow who was now across the bridge and picking me up , I was screaming in his arms and punching him.

" no! No! We can't leave Milly! Milly!" I screaming tears starting to run down my face but he just grabbed the top of my forehead and pulled my head back to his neck , one hand over my stomach holding me up while I was kicking and hitting him and one hand on my forehead pulling my head back to rest on his neck.

" shh, shh... I-it's ok just , calm down" he said covering me mouth so I couldn't scream. I watched as Millys small , fragile body got pulled into the river and the last thing I saw was her hair floating above the river before I closed my eyes and felt the last of my tears come screaming down . When I opened my eyes again I was in the other side of the river with Snow hugging me . I looked back at the river where the ginger frizzy hair had now disappeared . I bit my lip and hugged Snow pushing my face into his shoulder.

" w-mmh" I mumbled not even able to speak properly but somehow he could still understand me.

" I know , I know . It's ok . It's..." He said stroking my black short hair , my fringe was messed up and everything was just horrible . "it's okay , I'll fix this."