The Bridge

Each month, WordPress will be bringing us a word that will serve as a prompt. It can be a writing prompt, or whatever you like. You can draw, write a poem, show off some photography, or do an interpretive dance if that’s what makes you smile 🙂 The word prompt for March is BRIDGE. I’m looking forward to seeing others entries! Anyone can participate, just be sure to add the tag #WordPrompt to your post!

I look behind me and see the angry, dark mob approaching with a vengeance.

What do they want from me? Why are they so angry? What did I do wrong? Why do they hate me?

I fight to focus on what’s in front of me. I can barely make out the rickety old rope suspension bridge that is at the end of this overgrown path full of large tree roots jutting out from the wet and slippery earth. The storms keep coming and the waters keep getting higher. I have no where to go but forward… And toward the certain doom I face if I attempt to cross that bridge. The mob is getting louder as I slip and slide and trip over the many obstacles on the path.

Focus. Breathe. Focus. Breathe.

I can hear the mob screaming at me to give up. “You’ll never make it!”, “You aren’t fast enough!”, “Give us what we want and we’ll let you live!”

They’re right. I won’t make it. How could I? They continue to advance, the gap between us getting smaller.

Focus. Breathe.

The end of the path is only about fifty feet away now. What am I going to do when I get there? I have no where to go. I pray for a miracle and continue to fight my way through the thick and sticky clay like earth. I feel like life is in slow motion except that my mind and thoughts are racing in fast forward. The river is raging down below and I know there’s no way to slide down the steep and rugged cliff safely. My only way out of this is the bridge.

I’m not ready. I can’t do this on my own. Maybe I can just talk to the mob, help them see my side of things. Maybe we’ll become close friends. Maybe they’ll love me. I shake my head as if to snap out of it. I have to keep going. It’s not safe here anymore.

Breathe.

Focus.

I take a deep breath and I remind myself gently that I am worthy of so much more. I don’t need the harsh words or the empty promises or the blank stares when I tell them how much I love them.

As I tightly grip the sides of the rope bridge and take my first step onto that shaky and thinning rung, I look up and see a woman on the other side of the bank. She is calling my name and shouting to me. I can’t quite hear her though, the river and the mob are too loud.

“What are you doing? You’re going to kill yourself! You’ll never make it across that old, rotten bridge!” The mob continues to holler at me as I take another step…and another…and another…Soon their voices begin to be drowned out by the sound of the river and my own breath. I concentrate on the sound of my rhythmic breaths for a few more steps before looking up again.

The woman is still there. She’s smiling and cheering. Why? I don’t understand. I can see that she looks a lot like me and for the first time I can hear what she’s calling out to me.

“You got this! You’re almost there! You’re doing great! I love you!”

When I finally reach her, she holds out her hand to me to help me off the final rung of that treacherous bridge. “Take my hand,” she says, “I got you.”

She hands me a pair of scissors. I look into her eyes and smile as I take them in my hand. I turn around to face that angry mob on the other side of the river and, though I can no longer hear what they’re saying, they’re still yelling and they’re still angry. I smile at them as I hold up those beautiful scissors.

It’s my time to shine.

I cut the ropes holding the bridge and I put the scissors in my back pocket. I’m going to hold onto those as a reminder of how much I can accomplish. I turn to thank the woman who showed me incredible support and love and faith as I stumbled my way across. She’s gone.

I realize my feet are wet and when I look down I realize I am standing in huge puddle with the reflection of the brightest rainbow I’ve ever seen. Underneath that rainbow was the woman smiling back at me and as I look up to the sky, I shield my eyes from the warm sun that is now shining so brightly. I can see that same rainbow above me and I feel such a warm embrace completely surrounding my entire soul.

The end. (Or rather, I suppose it’s more like A New Beginning.)

-Ang