Post by friend on Sept 20, 2015 5:45:42 GMT
After not being able to get these characters out of my head, I decided to try and make this into a series of little shorts following the characters from my prompt fill 'The Bridge'. Figured it was worth a shot, even if nothing ever comes out of it.
The Bridge
"I love bridges," Tristan says as soon as they set foot upon it, "I love thinking that people just saw a body of water and were all like: 'I want to cross that....wait! I want to cross that...by foot." He is so incredibly excited by this notion that he seems to forget the fact that they had been walking that bridge for the past hour (or so they assumed) and have yet to see the other side, "Do you remember the first time we did this? Christ, in like seventh grade. We thought we were so badass. You, me, and Eileen." It had never seemed to take this long when they had all wandered it together those few years ago, now they were starting high school. "I remember when we found it, and how you kept saying it wasn't safe to cross it cause we didn't know who built it. Eileen was all: 'you don't need to know who built a bridge to cross it, I mean...do you know who built every bridge you cross? Like, do you make your mom stop the car every time to check if it's legit?' You were the first one across after that." Perhaps it only seemed longer because they kept stopping to talk or because neither of them had thought to bring a way to tell time--they hadn't had cell phones in middle school, and Tristan did so like to keep with tradition. "And like, when we got to the other side, oh my god, it sucked! It absolutely sucked because there was nothing there. Nothing at all, just more trees! We were so bummed...but like, Eileen was all convinced it could still be cool...and you know, it was. It was our spot. Nobody else knew about it." They had gone there every weekend since its discovery that summer day in seventh grade, "Remember that time we brought a picnic? It was so gross. The water bottle leaked all over the sandwiches! You still ate them though, Eileen did too...god, y'all were so gross together." They had been 'gross' together, Eileen had never been one to say 'no' to trying anything. Rolling in mud puddles, cutting off all her hair, jumping off the dock in January...that was until the day she did start saying no. "I guess she decided she doesn't like us anymore." They both stopped in their walk, deciding that wasn't a bridge they wanted to go over. Drive
"Why does everyone have a hard-on for Eugenides?" the windows were open, wind whipping through the car, hand dangling out, a cigarette slowly turning to ash; she knew that when Tristan said 'everyone', he really only meant one person, "I mean, remember how Eileen used to go on and on about The Marriage Plot? That book was shit," despite her not being part of their lives anymore, she still dominated their conversation, "I think it's because she wanted to be like them. Wanted to be able to moan and groan about problems she didn't really have. I used to think she was going to off herself like the girls in The Virgin Suicides," inside the car was cold, but she knew better than to complain while Tristan was going off on one of his tirades, "Middle Sex was okay. Remember when Eileen went through that phase where she didn't believe in gender? Told us we were stupid for using pronouns," she didn't want to comment how Eileen really hadn't been like that, how Eileen had never called them 'stupid', "she was always like that, wasn't she? So self-righteous...like she had to be the smartest person in the room," she also didn't comment on how Eileen usually was the smartest person in the room. "Did that ever piss you off? How she thought she was smarter than us?" Tristan didn't really want an answer, he never did, by this point the cigarette had turned to ash, their only light the dwindling street lamps.
Alone
"I think you might have to cross alone this time." It was the first thing she said once the bridge was in sight, her eyes fixed upon Tristan. Stood by the wooden railings, he glanced back just for a moment. At first, she couldn't make out his expression; she thought she saw an orange flash of anger, but steadily she grew to know the truth. It was the look Eileen had given them all those years ago when they had asked if she wanted to go to the bridge for old time's sake. She could almost hear her voice saying things she never actually said: "Oh, that's cute. You guys still do that?" Tristan's face was only slightly different, it seemed to say: "Oh, that's cute. You think you're not going to do that." And she did. She did think it was cute. Cute that she had let them get away with thinking about her that way for so long.
