The Bridge

Related image

"Okay ladies and gents, ready for our adventure?", Lewis asked excitedly.

"Yes!", they all replied, some more enthusiastic than others.

"Tell me again why we are doing this?" Paige asked, not looking forward to the potentially harrowing trip ahead.

"Because we all agreed to it, remember?" Lewis replied.  "Alright everyone, let's go over which route we will be taking to our destination", Lewis continued, getting everyone's attention and gathering the maps. "Okay, Group One, where are you?  Let's see...one, two, three...Yup, you're all here, and you all look ready to exercise those legs too", Lewis continued jokingly.

"Ha ha, ever the jokester, huh?" Jim replied, heading towards him.

"It's going to be fun guys! Trust me", Lewis laughingly encouraged. "Okay, Jim, you are leading Group One and you'll take this route", Lewis said as he handed him a map and route instructions. "Group Two will be headed by yours truly and Paige", he continued, grabbing his map and instructions and placing them in his backpack. "At any point along this journey, you may choose a different route because the routes eventually converge and end at the same destination".

"Alrighty then, let the journey begin", Paige responded half-heartedly. "Why in the world did I agree to this 'adventure'?" She thought as she gathered her backpack and headed towards the hiking trail.

An hour later, Paige hears  Jim's voice on her walkie talkie rejoicing excitedly. "What's up?" She barked into her walkie talkie.

"We have reached the destination! But we still gotta do a little bit of work to get to the other side", Jim said.

"Really?", Paige responded, out of breath. "We must be close then. Thanks for the heads up Jim. See you soon. Let's go guys, straight ahead",  She said, straining ahead through the path ahead of her and motioning to the rest of her group to follow.

Almost two hours later, Paige stopped, staring at the map in confusion.

"What?" Lewis asked tiredly, motioning for the rest of the group to stop.

"Lewis, I think we are lost", Paige responded defeatedly. "The road seems to be narrowing with lots of twists and turns. We should have reached our destination by now. I mean, it's been almost two hours since we heard from Jim, and I can't seem to reach him on this walkie-talkie", she said, shaking the walkie-talkie in frustration.

"I know", Lewis responded uneasily, looking around.

"It's okay, we are on the right path", Beth, another member of the group responded confidently.

"Guys, I think we are lost", Missy, Beth's close friend, interrupted, looking around. "Wait, what's that?" she said pointing straight ahead. "I think..." her voice faded out as she ran straight ahead towards the narrowing path. The others followed behind her.

"There!" Missy exclaimed. They all stopped to see what she was pointing at. Up ahead, a sign for Route One was clearly visible, seemingly pointing the way to their destination. "All hope is not lost", Missy said, sighing in relief. "This is the route Jim took. We will for sure reach our destination if we take it. I know the plan was to each take the assigned route but it seems our route is rather harrowing, doesn't it? Let's take this route. Besides, Jim said it was an easy route to follow", she added.

"Ummmm, I don't think we should deviate...let's keep moving forward. We are on the right path", Beth urged.

"You know what?" Missy responded angrily, "You always do this, Beth, like you know everything! With a frustrated look on her face, she turned to the rest of the group and continued, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I am tired, thirsty, hungry and so over this 'adventure' already. I am going to take Route One". With that, she turned and headed towards the route.

"Come on Missy", Beth called out to her retreating back, "don't be upset, I'm just trying to..." She stopped as she realized Missy was far gone and determined to continue onto Route One.

Several minutes later, five others joined her, amongst them was Lewis.

"Really Lewis? You were so gung-ho about this adventure but now you're giving up?" Paige shouted as Lewis and the others headed down the path and towards Route One.

"I'm sorry", Lewis mouthed, looking defeated as he rushed after Missy.

"I guess it's just the four of us now, huh?" Paige said disappointedly.

"It may seem harrowing but according to this map, we should be there very soon", Beth calmly encouraged.

An hour later, they could hear the excited voices of the others. "Wait, I hear Jim's voice! And is that Lewis? Up ahead!" Paige said excitedly, running towards the trees and the excited voices.

"Whoa!", she exclaimed, stopping abruptly. "Jim, what is this?" She asked, pointing. A few feet ahead was something that looked like a great divide, separating them from their final destination.

"Oh, it's nothing", Jim said nonchalantly. "All we have to do is build a bridge to go across it. It may take us a few hours but we  are actually in the process of building the bridge. We can certainly do it".

"Is there no way to go around it?", Paige asked, a troubled look on her face. "It's already getting dark, and we've been out here way too long", she continued.

"Nope, no way around, I'm afraid. I have spent some time looking. Not sure about this bridge Jim is building either", Lewis replied, looking suspiciously at the make-shift bridge Jim and the rest of his group were attempting to build.

"Guys, it seems like we won't need to build anything. There is a way to cross", quipped Beth as she walked close to the edge of the divide. "Look!" she said excitedly, pointing downwards.  "Do you see what I'm seeing?"

"Whaaaaaaat!?!" Paige exclaimed in awe, seeing for the first time the huge, almost invisible, glass-like structure bridging the divide. "Lewis! Jim! Wooohooo!" She exclaimed happily. "There is a way to the other side. No need to waste your time building a bridge. Wow, whoever thought of this is a genius!" Paige continued.

"What are y'all talking about?", Jim asked perplexed .

"Yeah, for real? I see nothing", Lewis said as he took a few tentative steps towards the edge and looked down.

"Right there...don't you see it?" Paige asked, staring and Jim and Lewis in confusion.

"I see nothing. I think you guys are seeing things. There is nothing there", Jim replied angrily.

"You know, they have a term for this...when people are tired and they start seeing things they wish was there, Lewis chimed in. "Yeah, a MIRAGE. That's it! What you guys are seeing is a mirage. Maybe you ladies should rest up while we continue building this bridge. We are wasting valuable time", Lewis continued, looking sympathetically at Beth and Paige.

"But this is real!", Paige insisted. "You know what? I'll just show you". With that, she headed towards the edge of the divide.

"Stop!" Lewis shouted, alarmed. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?, he asked.

Ignoring him, Paige proceeded towards the divide, and to his utter amazement, began to walk across. Beth followed suit with the rest of Group Two.

"How are you guys doing that?", Lewis asked in amazement.

"It's not us", Paige responded. "Whoever it was that thought of this needs to be credited, cos this is really sturdy", she continued, jumping up and down on the glass-like structure. "Wait, from this angle, it almost looks like a...a cross? What do you think?", she asked, turning to Beth.

Walking back towards Paige, Beth looked downwards and nodded her head in agreement, "Yes, it certainly does. Wow! And check out this view!" She exclaimed, sighing in contentment.

"Come on guys", Beth continued, beckoning to the rest of her group. "Let's keep moving. We're almost at the destination".

A few minutes later, the group reached the other side.

"Come on, Lewis! Jim!" Beth shouted, cupping her hands over her mouth to be heard across the divide.

"Take a leap of faith and just believe. It's there, the Bridge I mean", Paige added.

Edging closer, Lewis hesitated and then closing his eyes, he muttered to himself, "I believe". Opening his eyes, he looked down and to his amazement, spotted the glass-like structure that was perfectly situated across the divide. "Wow, I see it", he exclaimed excitedly and quickly began to walk across.

The rest of the team stood amazed, watching as Lewis walked confidently across the bridge.

"I don't know how you guys are doing that", Jim said in frustration, "but I'll just build my bridge, that way, I know it'll work. Come one guys", he called out to the rest of Group One.

"Guys, come on, you really don't need to do all that work, "Paige called out. "The hard work has already been done, all you need to do is just believe and walk across".

"Come one buddy", Lewis added. "It's pretty sturdy and safe, trust me".

"It can't be that easy", Jim responded, incredulous . "I can't believe it's that easy. You know what?" he continued, "You guys go on ahead of us. I can't see what you're seeing so I'm not going to just walk onto thin air. If I can't see it, I can't believe it's there. We'll just handle it ourselves and get to building our own bridge".

The End.
...or is it really?



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Are We There Yet? Part 1

The Voltron Effect

PICK UP YOUR WEAPON…AND NEVER GIVE UP!