Story of the Month + B-Day Announcement

Hi everyone!! I hope you’ve had a wonderful March. Here in Chicago we had a few weeks where it reached 70+ degrees, but now it’s back in the mid-20s. Ah well. It’s Chicago. 🙄

I had my birthday on the 17th, and now I’m 13!! 🥳

So yeah, that’s basically my birthday announcement. Below I’ve added some of my favorite presents and why:

• Nirvana T-shirt (because Nirvana is one of my favorite bands) 🎸
• Lord of the Rings T-shirt (because I love Tolkien) 🧝‍♀️
• Stranger Things T-shirt (I JUST GOT INTO STRANGER THINGS A FEW MONTHS AGO AND I LOVE IT AND I CAN’T EVEN EXPRESS MY LOVE FOR IT ON A KEYBOARD WHICH IS UNFORTUNATE) 🧇
• Spy School Books 1-7 (I like this series, it’s funny and easy to follow, also it has good action and a good plot) 🕵️‍♀️

Onto Story of the Month. So basically, at the beginning of March, WordPress, the site that I post my blog on, started this thing. It’s where they send all the users on WordPress a one-word short story prompt every month. This month’s was “Bridge”. So here is my story for it. I hope you like it. I definitely had fun writing it. 🌉

***

Amelia shivered, despite the warmth of the late summer night. The sky was dark above her, and the pungent smell of honeysuckle perfumed the air. She was about to cross the Bridge of Death. The Bridge of Death, or simply The Bridge, was a rickety wooden thing over a deep valley. It was infamous in their small Midwestern town. 

Amelia took a deep breath. She could hear the gushing of the river down below, swollen because of last night’s rainstorm. Her friend, Darius, had dared her to cross the bridge for a thousand dollars straight from his pocket. Now she was questioning if it was the right choice. A sudden breeze lifted up Amelia’s short hair. Over the last seventy-five years, around twenty people had fallen off the bridge and died. 

Maybe I shouldn’t cross it, Amelia thought. Darius wouldn’t make fun of me. 

She took one step closer to the start of the bridge. She began thinking about all the books she would buy with the money. Maybe she could bring her little sister out to Culver’s for lunch sometime. Amelia had been working too hard lately to retain her cool older sister status to her ten year old sibling. If she got the money, it would be set in stone that she was the coolest sister ever, despite only being sixteen. 

Amelia took off her Converse. The extra weight and lowered mobility would hinder her bridge-crossing abilities. Darius was waiting on the other side of the fifteen yard bridge. It’s dumb that there’s no warning sign or anything. I mean, someone could get hurt.

Now she was ten steps away from the start of the bridge. How do I do this? Run across it in one go, or walk across slowly but surely? Amelia stared around at the thick green forest surrounding the whole area. The location of the bridge was really remote. She tried not to think of that

Nine. 

The rustling of the night breeze was calming. It’ll be okay. You’ll be fine. Darius will catch you if anything happens. He strung a rope out just in case. 

Eight. 

“Darius?” Amelia tentatively called out. “I’m about to cross. Just give me a second.” 

Darius’s crackly voice replied, “Take your time. I’ve got the cash right here.” 

Seven. 

Amelia ran a hand through her inky black hair, hair the color of night. She breathed in the delicious smell of summer. 

Six.

Amelia glanced back at her Converse shoes, sitting discarded in the moist dark dirt. I’ll see them again. Don’t worry. It’ll be okay. Her socks were shoved inside her shoes, and her bare feet made almost imperceptible sounds in the soil. 

Five. 

Amelia could practically smell the Culver’s fries she would share with her sister, could practically feel the hardcover of the new-ish Hunger Games prequel that had been out since 2020. She hadn’t been able to afford it and her mother wouldn’t buy it for her. 

Four. 

The rustling of the leaves and the rushing of the river began to fade as she focused simply on how to safely make it across the river. She decided to run across it in a mad dash. 

Three. 

Now or never. Now or never. Amelia took one last deep breath. She positioned herself to run. Her heart began pounding, pumping pure adrenaline. She sprinted the last three steps, then took one long stride. Amelia had her eyes on a landing spot, and for a moment she was suspended in mid-air. A thin gasp escaped her mouth as her feet landed on the wooden bridge. 

“Amelia, you can do it!” Darius screamed into the fresh night air, his words echoing across the still world. 

She raced across the bridge, as fast as she could. It creaked and groaned under her weight. Darius’s words of encouragement slowly drowned away as she sped across. The only thing that mattered, here and now, was not placing her foot in the wrong place and falling through the bridge. 

Until that’s exactly what happened. 

Amelia was three yards away from the edge of the bridge, and could see Darius’s red shirt. Suddenly she put her weight down on a rotted wooden board, and her foot fell through. The sudden halt of movement threw her forward and she landed on the bridge, with her leg still stuck in the bridge. Both Amelia and Darius screamed. 

Her knees were scraped up and she felt splinters enter her ankles, hands and knees. Amelia’s ankle was trapped in the wood and she felt the bridge weakening under her. “DARIUS, I’M STUCK!” she screeched. 

“I can come out there, just hold tight!” Darius yelled back. 

“NO! STAY THERE!” 

“What are you going to do then?!” 

“I’m going to crawl.” 

Amelia slowly pulled her ankle out of the whole and attempted to spread out her weight to different parts of her body. Slowly but surely, she inched her way to the end of the bridge. When her whole body was safely on the soil, she stood up and rushed into Darius’s arms, her heart still pounding from her near death experience. “You’re shaking.” Darius noticed. “Let’s go get your shoes and then we can go home.” 

Amelia simply nodded. They got into Darius’s car, and before Darius shifted the car into drive, he handed her a simple, unmarked envelope. She opened it and counted the cash inside. One thousand bucks, in crisp hundred dollar bills. 

Darius drove on the road for a bit, then turned into the woods and stopped, getting out of the car and grabbing her Converse, handing them to her. They rode the rest of the way home in silence. Amelia felt brave, but also really stupid. 

The next afternoon, she brought her little sister to Culver’s and bought her a burger, fries, a large soda, and a chocolate cone. Amelia got herself the same. 

Needless to say, the Hunger Games prequel was really good. 

***

I hope you enjoyed this post! Have a wonderful April! Here’s to spring. 🌻

“Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.” -Raymond Lindquist