The day you died
A tribute to Leslie from Bridge to Terabithia
who is that? Who is racing ahead of me? Is that a boy or a girl?
My name is Leslie.
Leslie can be a boy or girl name.
Pleased to meet you. I live under the water. I’m a girl.
No, you don’t. You can’t live in the sea.
Yes I do. Do you see the shimmering blue lights reflecting through the window of the sea?
Wait. I do see it. I feel like I’m dreaming and never waking up. Drowning. But I can still breathe.
Do you smell the salty smoke coming from the hot air? The sea is rumbling like an ancient volcano.
You beat me in the big race. I practiced that sprint for days. Girls shouldn’t beat boys.
Girls and boys can race and I can beat you. I did.
Let’s go past this swing and go to the creek.
I love your pictures, you’re a true artist, Jesse. I’ll swing over and we can be king and queen.
That’s silly.
Now see those hedges and those trees? See the mountains and streams. See our kingdom.
We are here together, Leslie. I’m here with you, we are not going anywhere.
Don’t throw us away.
I wouldn’t.
I’m going early to the bridge.
Ok. I’m gonna go later. Maybe later.
Leslie, stop! I would not have stayed with my teacher if I had known…
I wish I could’ve saved you. Oh God, Leslie. The day you died, I died. I keep picturing the rope breaking and you falling. I can’t get it out of my heart, it’s breaking and cracked like a large bell. I can’t hear your voice.
“I’m here, Jesse. I’m here.”
About the Creator
Melissa Ingoldsby
I am a published author on Patheos,
I am Bexley by Resurgence Novels
The Half Paper Moon on Golden Storyline Books for Kindle.
My novella The Job and Atonement will be published this year by JMS Books
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Message Me Afterwards
>That was a bad idea. I thought you knew… >Oh, the pathos! I don’t really know you as well as I should. In fact, I may not know the real you at all. That essential, sparkling you that you only reveal to a select few. Had I been paying more attention to the stories you are so fond of telling, in which you are invariably author, narrator and protagonist, I would not have been so foolish as to set you up on a blind date. After all, no friend has ever done anything of the kind for another. That’s preposterous. What is a friend, really?
By D. J. Reddall7 days ago in Fiction
Comments (6)
"I can’t get it out of my heart, it’s breaking and cracked like a large bell." Well-wrought line. Bridge to Terabithia, Charlotte's Web, and Flowers in the Attic were all very different books that nevertheless had a profound influence on how I learned to deal with the dark moments in life. Nice ode here!
Oh my gosh as soon as I saw the name Jesse I knew the story. I read it in year 8 and then of course the movie came out. I loved this.
I've watched this movie and it was so sad. Your poem was so poignant and emotional. Loved it so much Merly!
Really unique waybof writing Nice to meet you too sweetie
Your writing truly pulls at the heartstrings. Thank you for sharing such an emotional and thought-provoking poem.
Spoiler alert: I still have never seen this movie.