Stars Over Terabithia
Chapter 1 - Thanks to you
(Please read and review, it makes us better writers.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Bridge to Terabithia and no profit was gained
from the writing of this story. Terabithia was created by Katherine Paterson.

With an incredible roar of thunder, the many clouds that had slowly been bundling together in devious preparation cut loose on Lark Creek. Having expected the storm, most of the countryside residents had already closed their windows and doors and were now greatly involved in watching the Weather Channel. More than a few tornadoes had popped up in the area in recent years, most of them caused by storms far less extreme than this one.

Jesse Aarons and Leslie Burke rushed quickly for the creek separating their homes and the small woodland that they often referred to as Terabithia. The wind was picking up at rapidly, blowing hundreds of droplets of rain directly into their faces. Leslie feverishly pulled the back of her coat up over her short blond hair while roughly stuffing the small dog she had been carrying partially inside the unique red piece of clothing. Jess did his best shield his already soaked hair from the commencing onslaught.

When they reached the creek, which was normally very calm and not more than a couple of feet deep, both of them watched it in complete awe. It looked even more ferocious now than it had only an hour earlier, when they had crossed into Terabithia to retrieve Jesse's dad's keys from the "belltower" that Leslie had erected. It was actually more of a tree, but to them it was most certainly a tower.

After just a moment of studying the muddy water's rapid current, Leslie grabbed hold of a large tree branch and used it to pull the rope to her. Once she had it, she gained a firm grip on the wet rope and swung across. Once on the other side, she aggressively swung the rope back to Jess, who grabbed hold and came across to meet her, his feet skidding across the surface of the water as he did.

With another brief pause to examine the creek, the two friends rushed off through the fields and down the muddy road that lead to each of their houses. Leslie's house was down the first split in the road, hidden behind quite a few trees and bushes. Without a word, the girl turned down the path and lightly jogged a few steps before coming to a stop and looking over her shoulder.

Jess was still there, an awestruck expression locked onto his face. He didn't even seem to care that she could now see him, that she had turned her head and that their eyes had met. For a moment, neither did anything. Finally, Leslie smiled with some embarrassment, glad that the rain was providing cover for the hint of pink in her cheeks, and gave him a shy wave.

What Leslie didn't realize was Jesse's state of mind as he was watching her. For the first time in a very long time, Jess Aarons was thinking about how lucky he was. Years of being in an unstable family with extreme financial insecurity had driven him to a fairly unhealthy state of depression, something he hadn't recognized at his age. He did however, recognize feelings of hope, security and to some extent, affection. Lately, he had found himself experiencing those things frequently, and not just when he was around Leslie.

When the new girl had walked timidly into Monster Mouth Myers' class on the first day of school, there was no way that Jess could have known that she would change him forever. She was very good looking and happy when he had first seen her, something he had picked up on immediately. These were both things that he didn't associate with himself. He had stowed any hopes that he had of making a friend deep inside himself at that moment.

One thing that stood out in his mind though, was that Leslie's sense of fashion was extremely appealing to him. It wasn't anything he would ever be caught dead wearing, but he admired it. This girl was not only sporting an outrageous sense of style, but she was doing it very well. That, topped off with a single line from Scott Hoager had been the deciding factor in Jess sticking up for her.

"Hey! New girl! This race is for guys!"

"What's the matter, Hoager? Afraid of losing to a girl?"

Jess had caught himself wondering a time or two what exactly it was that Leslie saw in him. She was so wonderfully free spirited and happy all of the time. It had crossed his mind on more than a few occasions that if she met someone more interesting or more talented than he was, she would run off with that person. In Jesse's mind, he didn't deserve her friendship. He didn't deserve to be happy and play in this wonderful imagination that she had opened for him. He didn't deserve to walk down the hallways at school with her, sit next to her in class or even know her. Here she was though, making his life much better than it ever had been.

He kept watching after her. She gave him a final glance and then turned back around, running on up the path. Jess was finally about to turn back and go home when he noticed someone approaching the girl, and just as she was about to disappear from his sight behind the trees, she stopped. Whoever it was was hooded, quite a bit taller than Leslie, and was carrying an umbrella. They looked as if they were talking to one another, but Jess couldn't hear any voices.

After a few long moments of watching and wondering, Jess could see Leslie start nodding in what could only be excitement. She turned back with the man, his hand firmly gripping her shoulder. Finally, the stranger lifted his head so that Jess could see his face.

It was Mr. Burke, and he was smiling as well as anyone could when facing an extreme downpour.

"Jess!" Bill yelled through the sound of wind and rain. "Come on, Jess! We're going to have some ice cream and hot chocolate!" Leslie was motioning for him to run over to them.

And run he did. Jess didn't know the Burke's very well, aside from Leslie, but he really liked her father. Not long ago, he had spent an entire afternoon with her and her family, painting what Leslie now referred to as the "Gold Room." It had been more fun than Jess could have ever imagined.

When he caught up to them, Bill put his other hand on Jess' shoulder and they all three walked silently up to Leslie's house, shielded from the rain by a solid umbrella.

Once they were in, Jess marveled at the inside of the house. The only other time he had ever been inside, there were a lot of boxes laying around and most of the house had yet to be furnished. Now, just by looking into the Gold Room, Jess could see that the Burke's had most definitely finished their book. They had used the time to decorate the marvelous room. There was a very nice looking leather sofa facing the fireplace, a stand on one side of it sporting some very beautiful flowers. The mantelpiece was set up half a dozen pictures, all of them of Leslie, three on each side of an even large picture that hung brilliantly on the wall above. It displayed all three of the Burke's, Leslie standing, smiling broadly with PT in her arms. Her mother was on her knees, her arm tenderly placed across her daughter's neck. Bill was behind them both, his left hand firmly placed on his wife's shoulder and his right on his daughter's, the smile of a very happy man consuming his face.

"Took that one just a few days ago," Bill announced, coming to stand next to his daughter's friend. "I didn't want Prince Terrian in it, but Leslie insisted. Glad she did, I don't think that it could have turned out better." He smiled at Leslie, who returned in kind.

It took Mr. Burke a few minutes to get the ice cream and hot chocolate ready. Their kitchen still wasn't in the best shape, as they had been trying to furnish and remodel it at the same time. That particular room had taken a back seat to Bill's study, which he wanted done in time for his next great book idea.

While Mr. Burke was wandering through the kitchen, trying to find whatever it was that he needed, Jess sat on the couch with Leslie. She was busily looking through his sketchbook, more concerned than he was about his drawings getting wet. Jess had never considered himself that talented of an artist, so it he had never really grown attached to any of his drawings. Leslie, on the other hand, knew that Jess was something special in the way that he could represent things on paper at his age. When she reached a certain page, one that seemed to be an illustration of a uniquely dressed young girl with dangling blond hair, she snapped it shut. She had never seen that drawing before and felt as if she had somehow violated Jesse's privacy.

She smiled lightly and handed it back to him. Jess took it and ran his hand over the cover, as if to brush off something that wasn't even there. Truthfully, he had just always liked the rough texture on the cover of this sketch book. He liked the feel of it on his hands.

"Ice cream is served," Bill announced as he entered the room, handing off a bowl of vanilla ice cream to each of them, setting his own on the stand next to the couch.

"Either of you touch mine and I'll force feed the rest of it to you faster than you can say "brain freeze," Bill warned cheerfully as he went back into the kitchen.

When he returned, the three of them sat on the couch for nearly two hours. Jess didn't talk much, he just listened to the things Leslie and Bill had to say. The man was an incredible story teller, whether it was factual or fictitious. He shared various tales of their lives in Richmond, before they had come to Lark Creek. Leslie threw bits into the stories on occasion, and made sure to call her dad out whenever he over-exaggerated something that she had done when she was little.

Jess found out quite a few things that he had never known about Leslie. She had only ever ridden a bicycle once in her whole life, because that one time she had wrecked and scraped her knee so badly that she gave it away to the neighbor children. She, by her father's count, had read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe approximately seventy-six and a half times. She had also once asked her father to marry her, because she didn't want to wait until she was older to get married.

"This one time, Jess," Bill started. "Leslie was bout four or five and had just gotten out of the shower and had nothing but a towel on. She was playing with a ball that I had gotten her that day, and it went bouncing out the front door and across the street. She chases it, the towel comes off and she's running butt nake-"

"Dad!" Leslie exclaimed angrily, though she was smiling quite broadly, her cheeks very red.

It was after nine before they finished the melted remains of their ice cream. Bill took their bowls to the sink and returned a few moments later with soda for both of them. They kept talking for a while longer, Jess finally sharing a bit of the conversation. At ten, Bill had an announcement to make.

"It's getting pretty late," he said. "Leslie, why don't you take Jess up to your room and find a place for him to sleep?"

Jesse's eyes went wide. He had never been anywhere except for his own home this late at night, and he hadn't even considered that the Burke's might be inviting him to stay over when they had invited him inside.

"Oh, I'm sorry Jess. I guess I probably should have asked you after I asked Leslie," Bill said, realizing his mistake. Leslie just looked from her father to Jess. "Would you like to sleep over with Leslie tonight?"

Jess had never had good enough friends to have ever been invited to sleep over anywhere, and he was a little shocked. For a moment he was speechless, looking at Leslie who was now looking at him, a hopeful expression prominent in her gaze.

"Sure!" Jess finally replied, noting the smile and relief that spread across Leslie's face. "I just need to call my house and see if it's okay with my parents."

"We'll just go over there," Leslie said, looking to her father for confirmation. Bill just nodded at them. After all, it was only next door.

It didn't take them long to reach Jesse's house. They entered through the back door, coming right up on Jack Aarons, who was sitting at the kitchen table going over some weird looking sheet of paper. He turned around with an agitated expression, looking as if he was ready to rip his son's head off. Then, he seemed to notice Leslie and his expression softened.

"Where have you two been?" Jack asked, his voice quite a bit more inquisitive than angry.

"Leslie's house," Jess answered, not wanting to look at his father in the face. "Here, I found these."

Jess reached into his pocket and pulled out the set of keys that May Belle had snatched from the greenhouse the night before and offered them to Jack. His father looked down at them as if he wasn't sure what they were, and then he took them, looking both a bit peeved and impressed.

"Leslie's dad invited me to stay over at their house tonight," Jess stated, hoping against hope that his dad wasn't angry enough not to permit him to his first sleepover. "Can I?" Jess had to follow up after Jack made no move to reply.

"Tomorrow's Saturday," Jack stated calmly. "I don't see why not, so long as you get your chores done as soon as you get home."

Jess almost shouted in excitement and then gave his dad a quick hug. It wasn't returned, but he paid no mind. He and Leslie rushed out the back door and across the way to Leslie's home.

When they got back inside, Bill had already pulled out a heavy comforter and a couple of pillows for Jess. He'd also grabbed a bag of barbecue potato chips, which he sent up the stairs with Leslie. Jess offered to carry up the blanket and pillow, but Bill declined and insisted that he was their guest and that if anyone was going to take care of him for the night, it would be Bill.

Truthfully, Bill was more excited about Jess staying over than Leslie was. He had felt pretty bad when they lived in Richmond. He had always instructed his daughter that it was okay to be different from everyone else and that she should never pretend to be anyone that she wasn't. While all of those things were very true to his beliefs, he couldn't help, but feel that his advice to her had caused her troubles in making friends. Bill had always felt that this was the true test of friendship: spending the night together. If they weren't at each other's throats by the time Jess left, then they were in Lark Creek to stay. Leslie needed that much.

Once Leslie's father had left, Jess was finally able to examine his friend's room. He had never been passed the Gold Room in the Burke's home before, and he had never been curious as to what kind of room Leslie kept until now.

It didn't take much examination to see that the room was much larger than his and May Belle's. The floor was covered in a very nice blue rug. There was a very comfortable looking bed against one of the side walls, and it was very well kept from what Jess could see. There was a rather large dresser against the back wall, parallel with a bookcase. Jess didn't even bother looking at any of the books, as he was sure that he had seen her carrying all of them around school at some time or other.

In fact, the entire room struck him as odd. He had never considered that Leslie would be quite so...neat in the way that she kept her belongings.

"My sanctuary away from our sanctuary," she said plainly. "Want some chips?"

Jess couldn't help but feel just slightly out of place, but Leslie made him feel at home pretty quickly. They sat on her bed for a while, eating the chips that her father had sent up with her, and talked about everything from Janice Avery to the implications of not owning a television.

"You've changed a lot since I first met you, Jess," Leslie said once they had been sitting in silence for a while. She sounded very serious, but very happy at the same time. "You're not at all like that miserable looking boy I saw sitting in Monster Mouth Myers' class on the first day of school."

He wanted to say something right then, but he just couldn't do it. Instead, he just nodded in silent agreement.

A few moments later, a knock sounded at the door and Bill came in. He had a look of defeat about him as he informed the two that they needed to get ready to go to sleep. Once he had left again, Leslie told Jess that her mother always got what she wanted. After that, she went and retrieved two sleeping bags from her closet.

"What do I need two for?" Jess asked.

"Well I'm not letting my guest sleep on the floor alone," she told him, slinging one of the heavy sleeping bags to Jess. "Especially when that guest is a king."

When they got it all laid out and finally settled down for a good night's rest, Jess found himself unable to sleep. Something was nagging at his mind, but he wasn't quite sure what it was. At first, it just felt as if he had forgotten something, but it quickly morphed into a nauseating sense of hopelessness and despair. Jess found himself more afraid that he would be sick during his first ever sleepover than anything else. Then, just as suddenly as it all had started, it stopped. He didn't feel sick or scared anymore. He turned his head and looked to Leslie, who was already sleeping soundly.

I don't have as much time as I need to see everything, but that's what makes it so special.

Leslie's voice filled his mind so clearly that it was as if she had actually spoken. She was still asleep, and her lips hadn't moved one bit. It was the last thing he thought about before he fell asleep, and before they knew it, Saturday was upon them.

- - - - - - - - - -

When Ms. Edmunds was welcomed into the Burke household, both children were still fast asleep. Though neither of them realized it, it had been almost one in the morning before they had finally dozed off. This was fairly late for both of them.

For an hour Mr. Burke kept Ms. Edmunds busy, discussing both children with her. They shared a few laughs every now and then, but when Ms. Edmunds made mention that Jess had really come out of his shell since he had met Leslie, the discussion turned very serious.

"Leslie was very similar to him," Bill explained. "She was always outcast and never really wanted to get involved with anything socially. We moved here for her, really. We thought that if we lived in a smaller community, maybe she'd find some people that weren't so closed minded about her imagination and her views on the world."

"I'm sorry," Ms. Edmunds replied as if she had caused the children of Lark Creek to be spoiled brats. "Lark Creek doesn't really have the most pleasant of children. Kids can be a lot more mean than they realize."

"I couldn't be happier here," Bill stated. "Leslie loves the open fields around here, and I'm going to be honest. Jess Aarons has done more for her than I could have ever hoped for from a battalion of new friends. That boy's very special."

"They're both special," Ms. Edmunds said. "And here comes one of them now!"

A bleary-eyed Leslie had just finished descending the stairs and rounded the corner into the Gold Room. Bill smiled at her. She was still wearing her clothes from the day before, minus the wrist bands and the outrageous cut-off socks that she sometimes pulled up over her elbows.

"Sleep well, honey?" Judy Burke asked as she came into the room from the kitchen. Leslie just grunted. She had never been a morning person.

"Better than some people," Leslie finally said. All three adults in the room gave her a very inquiring look. "Jess didn't sound like he was having the best dream in the world, let's just leave it at that."

"Is he up yet?" Ms. Edmunds asked. Leslie nodded.

"Bathroom."

Just as she said it, Jess came clambering down the stairs wearing a new shirt and a pair of khakis as opposed to the jeans he had donned the previous day.

"Ms. Edmunds!" Jess more stammered than exclaimed. "W-what are you doing here?"

"Well," she began. "I wanted to see if you and Leslie wanted to go out to the National Art Gallery in DC with me. I was going to take my nephews, but my sister changed her plans last minute, so I thought of you and was curious if you wanted to go?" She had decided on leaving out the fact that she had initially called Jesse's house and that May Belle had told her that Jess was sleeping over with the Burke's. She didn't want to offend Leslie.

Did you forget something, Jess?

Next time, we should ask Leslie to go. She'd like that.

Jess shook the sudden unpleasantness out of his head and looked to Leslie. She seemed impartial toward the notion so he simply asked her outright.

"Do you want to go?" Leslie looked at him, her eyes lighting up and a smile spreading across her face. It seemed almost as if she hadn't expected him to want her to go.

"Sure."

By nine, they were on the road to Washington DC. Jess had wanted to sit in the front with Ms. Edmunds at first, but quickly changed his mind and joined Leslie in the back seat. She seemed quite happy about this.

The museum wasn't terribly exciting for Leslie, but she did have quite a bit of fun just watching Jess marvel at the various paintings on the walls.

"I wonder if Van Gogh started in notebooks like you?" Ms Edmunds asked. "I know DaVinci did."

When they reached a part of the building filled with nothing, but strange gadgets, she started cranking one that caused half a dozen wooden balls to start flying as if they were a ride at an amusement park. Jess watched it in awe, and inevitably put his face too close and got smacked in the nose. He just laughed it off, and both Leslie and Ms. Edmunds laughed with him.

At the end of the day, Ms. Edmunds treated both of them to some food and drink in the museum's cafeteria.

"It's a wonderful day. It's been raining so much this month," Ms. Edmunds started, emptying a sweetener packet into her tea. "I thought it'd turned into that old story where the sun goes into the cave and vows never to come out."

"You know everything," Jess commented.

"Not by a long shot," she corrected. "-but I do try to keep an open mind and you'd be surprised what finds its way in there."

Jess looked to Leslie who was very involved in drinking her soda, but managed to smile back at him.

"That's what Leslie Burke says," Jess said as if the girl weren't even there, looking back to his teacher. He couldn't help but notice Leslie cough some of her drink back into her cup and set it down. "She told me to keep my mind wide open."

"Leslie Burke is right," his teacher responded with a smile, also as if Leslie weren't present. "A mind like yours wide open-" she tilted her head to one side, shaking it lightly. "-you could create a whole new world."

The sun was beginning to set when Ms. Edmunds pulled her Volvo up to the Burke's place. Neither Jess or Leslie had realized just how quickly the day had gone by, and they had both wanted to go to Terabithia during the weekend. They had such little time to spend there during the week those days.

"Well kids, it's been a pleasure." Ms. Edmunds said just after the car came to a full stop.

"Yeah," Jess replied.

"Thanks, Ms. Edmunds. I had a lot of fun," Leslie commented as she unbuckled her seatbelt and hopped out of the car. Jess followed and they both stood and waved as they watched their teacher drive away. As soon as she was out of sight, Leslie turned and started running for the dirt road.

"Race you to the rope!"

They thought you were de...

Your friend Leslie's...

It's not that kind of rope. It couldn't break – it wouldn't!

But it did...

Jess was more than a little surprised, but he took off after her. "That's not fair!" She had quite a head start on him by now, and in the three months that he had known her, he had never managed to outrun her even once.

When he reached the creek, she was waiting for him, standing up on the log and ready to swing across. She just gave Jess a victorious smirk and kicked off, swinging her legs up high as she went.

What should have taken a few seconds seemed to unfold before Jesse's eyes in slow motion. First, Leslie was swinging across with her back facing him, but by the time the rope had gone halfway across the creek, she had turned around. The whole rope had turned around and the two friend were looking directly into each other's eyes. Leslie's went from confusion to understanding and horror almost instantly, a moment that Jess would remember for the rest of his life as the first time he had seen Leslie Burke's eyes express anything other than cheerfulness and slight annoyance.

After what seemed like minutes to both of them, the rope snapped apart. Leslie didn't even have time to gasp in shock before the top of her head collided solidly with a large rock that was halfway embedded into the ground on the Terabithia side. Her limp form landed on the sloping shore and quickly rolled down into the creek, which still had not recovered from all of the rain.

Jess could only watch in horror as his best friend was carried downstream. He wanted to jump in and pull her out, but he was scared. He was afraid to fail. He knew that if he didn't do something soon, there would be nothing he could do. His father's voice was loud in his ears.

Your friend Leslie's dead. She drowned in the creek this morning.

Leslie-dead-girl-friend-rope-broke-fell-you-you-you.

The words popped into his head like corn against the sides of the popper and he started sprinting, outrunning the current of the monstrous creek. It had always seemed so harmless until now, even with the rising water levels. He ran faster and faster, knowing that running was the only way he could keep Leslie from being dead. It was the only way he could keep from hearing those meddling voices that had found their way so easily into his mind, as if they had actually happened.

God-dead-you-Leslie-dead-you.

In only a couple of seconds that seemed like hours, Jess had caught up with the drifting girl and with only a slight hesitation, jumped in after her. He had never been a good swimmer, but somehow he managed to surface and keep himself above water. He threw his arms in front of himself, kicking his feet at the same pace.

Panic shot through him when he realized that he couldn't see Leslie anymore. She wasn't above water, and the muddy surface was impossible to see through. He dove under, opening his eyes and subjecting them to the stinging haze of the water. She was almost directly in front of him, her limp form beginning to rise back to the surface.

He grabbed hold of her arm, which was drifting lifelessly. He pulled her up much faster than she had been rising and drug her easily to the shore.

He hadn't had time to look at her in the water, but now he wished he hadn't seen her at all. Her eyes were closed, threatening to swallow her sight forever. She seemed very pale, and her beautiful blonde hair was beginning to turn crimson with her own blood.

Not breathing.

The thought registered in his mind before he had even thought to check. He couldn't think. His mind was in a complete fog. Why the hell had he never learned CPR!? He did what he could anyway. He'd seen enough movies to know the basics, and there was no way that he would be able to carry her back to her house before she...

He went to work, pumping her chest and giving her mouth-to-mouth. Three tries and nothing happened. He began to panic, but he was far from finished. He felt determination shoot through his body, eliminating the panic. He wouldn't let her die, not here. Not so early into her young life and not where the Dark Master could defile her memory.

One more try was all it took, as if he had sent the determination in his attitude into her body and forced her lungs to breath. Before he even realized that it had worked, she vomited a fairly large amount of water into his mouth. He didn't care. He just turned his head to the side and spit it out.

Leslie went into a coughing fit, water coming up each time. After she was finished, she was gasping desperately for air. All Jess could do was watch and hope that she would be okay until she could catch her breath. She was still unconscious, that much he had to be thankful for. He didn't want her to see herself like this.

Once the adrenaline rush had ceased, Jess took notice that the sun was nearly gone and that all that was left to light the way home was a dim blue light. He was absolutely exhausted now, and was considering how he would be able to get Leslie home when he heard his father's voice.

"Jess!?"

At first, he thought it was just another voice inside of his head that he had been hearing since the night before until he realized that the voice sounded further away. Almost as if it were coming from somewhere near the rope.

"Dad!?" Jess called out, his voice cracking harshly. "Dad, help!"

He could hear the heavy running footsteps of his father and he sighed in relief when the hardened hardware store manager came into view. At first, Jess thought his father looked angry, but if he had it was quickly replaced with a look of concern and – when he noticed Leslie – panic.

"God, what happened? Never mind," his father said, taking charge of the situation. "Get over to the Burke's! Tell them to call 911 and tell them what's happened!" Jack lifted the girl in his arms, almost cradling her. Jess didn't want to see her like this anymore, so he turned and ran. Despite his exhaustion, he had reached Leslie's house in only a minute or two.

When he told Bill that Leslie was hurt, the older man didn't even ask what had happened. He yelled for his wife and told her to call 911. Then, he told Jess to lead the way. They both ran, Jess being a little shocked at how fast an aging novelist that did little other than sit in front of a computer typing all day long could run.

They met up with Jack Aarons halfway through the fields, and he immediately handed the unconscious girl over to her father. Bill didn't cry, he just examined her intently. He hair was now matted in blood and, if it was possible, she seemed more pale. Dusk was setting in heavily now though, and Jess couldn't be sure.

Emergency services for Lark Creek were only about two miles down the road, so it didn't surprise anyone when sirens could be heard nearby even as soon as Leslie's mother came jogging up to them. She wasn't nearly as calm and collected as Bill, and she burst into tears as soon as she saw her daughter's limp form in her husband's arms.

It was an awkward couple of minutes before the ambulance arrived. When it did, they loaded the girl into the back. Bill and Judy both clambered in and the back was closed, Leslie leaving Jesse's sight.

A police officer approached Jess soon after. He questioned him, asking him exactly what had lead to Leslie being hurt so badly. Before he recounted the events of the passed fifteen minutes or so, Jess felt his father grip his shoulder. He explained everything in as much detail as he could, and as he spoke he could feel his father's grip get tighter on his shoulder.

When the officer had thanked them and gone, Jack kneeled down in front of his son and looked at him intently.

"Look at me Jess," Jack said in a commanding, yet soft tone. Jess looked up at his father, expecting to see outrage and fury in his eyes. He had been gone all day long without doing his chores, and Leslie had been hurt in the process. Instead, he was met with a look of admiration. "You might have saved that little girl's life tonight. I'm proud of you, son."

- - - - - - - - - -

The next day, Jess and his mother and father went to the hospital in DC to see Leslie. She had been transferred from Lark Creek Intensive to Dawley Park Medical overnight. Bill and Judy were there, sitting in the waiting room. Neither of them looked as if they had gotten much sleep, Judy in particular looking like a train wreck. It didn't stop them from getting up and greeting the family as they approached.

Jesse's parents wasted no time introducing themselves, and it only occurred to Jess right then that they had never properly met.

After only a moment, Bill turned to Jess and pulled him into a tight embrace. Jess returned the hug. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes, but he couldn't cry. He wouldn't let himself look weak in front of everyone. He almost cut loose when he heard Bill say that things weren't looking very good for his daughter.

"Thank you so much for pulling her out of there," Bill said. Jess could tell he had been crying. He didn't sound like Bill Burke anymore. The strong and enigmatic man was gone. "She loves you, you know."

Jess felt as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice cold water over his head.

"Leslie never had much luck making friends at her old school. She once told me that if it weren't for you..." Bill cut off, unable to say the last few words. After a couple of seconds, he released Jess and looked him in the eyes, his expression solemn. "It's just that you're the best friend she's ever had. I want to thank you for that."

"You're welcome," Jess managed.

These were words he had always hoped to hear. Since he had met her, he had been so insecure in how he stood in her eyes. He dreaded the day when she would find someone more interesting or more imaginative and leave him behind. Now she was in a hospital room fighting for her life. She could die, and he had left so many things unsaid. He had never told her how much she had changed his life. He had never thanked her for delivering him from a pointless existence. He had never told her how often the word "beautiful" found its way into his mind whenever he had to chance to look at her for more than a few seconds.

With all of this flooding through his mind, he ran. He just started running down the hallway and out the door and he didn't stop until h found his way into overgrown part of the hospital's campus and tripped over a large tree root that was sticking out of the ground. After that, he just lay there, his mind spinning.

After a moment, a pair of strong arms grabbed hold of him and cradled him as if he were a baby. He looked into his father's face, and upon seeing the worry and affection there, he let his tears flow down his cheeks. He was sobbing uncontrollably.

"Shh," his dad said, rocking him back and forth.

"Is it true, what the Bible says?" Jess managed to say clearly. He sniffed. "Will she go to Hell?"

"I may not know everything about God, but he's not going to send that little girl to Hell," Jack said with incredible certainty in his voice. Jess kept crying.

"Then I'm going to Hell, because it's my fault," Jess blubbered on. "I hesitated. If I had jumped in sooner-"

"Don't you think that, not even for a minute." Jack's tone was firm. "That doesn't make it your fault. It's a terrible thing, and it doesn't make any sense, but..."

All Jess could do was sob. He felt absolutely helpless. Leslie was lying in a hospital bed, possibly dying, and all he could do was cry and wish things were different.

"She brought you something special when she came here, didn't she?" His father asked, his voice becoming a little shaky. "If she doesn't make it, that's what you need to hold on to. That's how you'll keep her alive."

After a few minutes, both of the Aarons' boys managed to collect themselves and went back inside. Jess was allowed to visit with Leslie for just a couple of minutes, and when he saw her, he wished he hadn't accepted the offer.

She was laying there, as pale as she had been when he pulled her out of the creek. There was a fairly thick bandage wrapped around her head, her hair obviously shaved away. She looked as helpless as he felt. All he could do was touch her hand. He found himself thinking back to the night he had stayed with her at her house. She had complimented him, and he hadn't been able to find the words to tell her why she was even able to give him that compliment.

"You've changed a lot since I first met you, Jess. You're not at all like that miserable looking boy I saw sitting in Monster Mouth Myers' classroom on the first day of school."

"Thanks to a wonderful friend," Jess said softly, his eyes welling up with tears again. "Thanks to you."