The Bridge By Lucy Eleanor Twigg

Estha had never crossed the bridge, no one had done so for years. Half of it had been in the sludgy waters of the brook ever since the flood had finally defaced its fragile wooden frame that was long due to snap.

The bridge had been more of a decoration anyway. There was a crossing just a couple of miles if you kept on down the path for those so inclined, but most people tended just to loop around the nature reserve, following the trail’s signposts. When it was still standing, the bridge was well-used. Without it, there would be nowhere to drop sticks into the river and watch them rush past underneath or get stuck on the rocks, if the current was slower that day. Without it, there would be nothing to cross, nothing to connect the dark woods with the outside world. The current was a lot stronger than it looked and proved to be when the flood broke the bank, and the bridge came in half. The other side looked more attractive from this side of the water anyway.

The brook did not look like much. Its waters were murky, and the riverbank so narrow that from here it looked as if you could just about jump it, if only you had the legs for it. Estha did not. She had found that out the hard way when Bea Stonem had forced her to make the jump. Forced may have been a strong word for it, she hadn’t been physically compelled, but Bea had a way of making Estha do anything she asked of her, though she was unlikely to admit this even to herself. She let herself be tugged along by Bea’s current quite happily, adrift with her playful bullying if it meant she could be near her, noticed by her. Her mother told her that if a boy bullied you, it was his way of saying he liked you. She never believed her, but it was different with girls. At least she was keen to believe this, and even keener to believe that making the jump would impress Bea.

In the end it didn’t matter that she fell just short of the bank, or that she came up with a mouth full of earth and blood. Bea’s laughter that bubbled up from behind her and bounced off the water was worth the cost of the other side of the brook.