The Music Speaks

The lone bridge which stands before me seems like it could collapse at any moment. It hangs by two worn out ropes and its base is made of rotten wood, making it evident that it has since long been abandoned. I look to my left, then to my right, but there is nothing for as far as the eye can see. When I look past the bridge, however, there seems to be a strange silhouette, calling out to me, beckoning me to join it on the other side.

‘What’s going on? I was doing something I’m sure… but what? How did I end up here?’

I look down once more, into the abyss. The longer I gaze upon it, the deeper it seems, and the more horrifying it appears. I cannot help but inspect my surroundings once more, but the same result ensues. The only man-made artifact in this region appears to be this fragile wooden bridge. From the expanse of nothingness around me, I grab a pebble, small enough that I can hold it within the palm of my hand, but big enough that it would make a considerable amount of noise if dropped. Then, I throw it into the abyss, waiting for it to hit its bottom. Unfortunately that time never comes. No matter how long I wait and and how intently I listen, I never hear the echo of the pebble hitting any type of hard surface.

“Yep, I tried that too. I’m starting to think our only option is to cross this bridge.”

In stupor, I turn around. “...Sophia?”

A woman sits behind me in the lotus position, her raven black her dances with the breeze traversing these mountains. Her skin is pale, pale to the point where I might mistake for a ghost if I’m not careful. It is, however, immensely contrasted by her dark eyes which fail to reflect the radiant sunlight, only adding to the sense of intrigue I feel when staring at her.

She raises an eyebrow. “You know me?”

I shake my head. “...No… I don’t think so. For some reason I thought that should be your name.”

She chuckles. “Aren't you a weird one? There’s others too. One small girl with red-hair, a tall muscular guy with mean eyes and short brown hair, another with a weird tattoo on his forehead and equally brown hair, though a bit longer, and now you.”

I squint my eyes. “Where are they?”

She looks down to my right. “The girl has been standing right behind you the whole time but-.”

Indeed, when I look down and to my right, there she is. I nearly jump away in a stupor. A small, red-haired girl with freckles is biting her fingernail, full of anxious fervor.

“Yeah, same happened to me, but don’t get her started, she won’t stop talking.”

“Uh.. okay. What about the other two?” I ask.

This time she points beyond me, and I look at the bridge once again. “They’ve started crossing already?”

“Yup. We should be able to catch up though, they left ten seconds before you arrived.”

“I see, why haven’t you two gone already?”

“...I’m not sure. I felt like I should wait, but I’m ready to go now. You aren’t afraid of heights are you?”

The short girl speaks in my stead. “A person who isn’t afraid of this kind of height doesn’t exist!”

“I think I’ll have to agree with short-stuff over here.” The pale girl says with a sigh.

I look down. “Yeah… me too.”

Without wasting another moment, we begin our march. As silence settles in, I hear the faintest, most-distant melody. I can’t quite make out what exactly is playing, but I know that I hear something… violin maybe?

It doesn’t take us long to catch up to the other two guys. Indeed, as the pale girl described them, both are quite muscular, one wears strange markings on his forehead while the other has mean eyes and keeps his hair short, nearly shaven.

“What’s the hold up?” She asks.

“Hmph, come look for yourself.” The one with the mean eyes answers.

I take a step forward, following behind the woman with raven-black hair, and immediately understand the problem. Beyond this point, and for at least thirty large steps, the wooden planks have rotten beyond repair. Most of them are missing, and those that do remain, surely cannot support the weight of a human body, at least not for long.

“W-we’ll have to run won’t we? Can we do that?” The red-haired girl asks.

“We can always turn back and find another way.” The man with the markings suggests.

I look behind us, and my eyes expand. “I… I don’t think we can.”

All of the footholds behind us have fallen, or rather, they were never there. Whichever it may be, we can’t go back.

A soft cruse escapes the pale woman’s mouth.“...F*ck” She then grins anxiously. “So… who’s going first?”

The small woman is the first to speak up. “I-it’s not who’s going first, but who’s going last! These things look like they’re on their last breath. W-we have to go one at a time because of the width of this bridge, but whoever goes last has the least chance of making it across!”

We all look at each other with somber expressions, until the man with the markings proposes something. “Why don’t we decide this fair and square? Let’s do this. At my signal, we’ll throw a number up. The one with the lowest unique number will get to go first. Meaning that, if you throw one, and someone else does the same, you’re out.”

We all nod at his proposition, expressing that we’re willing to participate.

‘Easy enough.’

After a couple of rounds, the order of passing ends up being as follows : Me, the pale woman, the man with the markings, the man with the angry eyes, and the red-haired small woman.

The petite woman looks at her fingers in terror. She doesn’t seem like she’ll argue the results but she is most definitely not happy with it.

As the first to go, I stretch and prepare to run through this expanse of the bridge. In a moment, I dash stepping as lightly as possible on each plank, hoping to not break them. Unfortunately, when I reach the other side, two pieces of wood have fully broken because of me. Now, it’s the pale woman’s turn. She does the same as me, also knocking down two pieces of wood, and nearly losing her footing. The man with the marking is a bit more careful. Instead of betting on speed, he selects the plank which seems more solid in comparison to the others. He only destroys one during his passage. I notice the red-haired woman’s nervousness growing. Then, the unapproachable man reverts to the original strategy. He almost doesn’t make it through. A piece of wood falters before he even steps on it, causing his foot to nearly fall through, but he manages to hold himself using his hands, pull himself back up, and finish crossing. Now, there is only one person left.

Since she appears to be very light, there shouldn’t be any trouble. There is less wood left, yes, but not so few that she can’t make it.

“You can do it, just run across!” The pale woman says.

The red-haired girl closes her eyes, breathes in, and gets ready to cross. Before she can take a single step however, an especially strong gust of wind washes over us. The bridge holds, albeit barely, but the wind has taken with it most of the wood the woman needs to cross.

“Damn…”

“How is she supposed to cross now…?”

I yell out to her. “You can still do it, but you’ll have to jump really far. You’ll need momentum!”

“Y-yeah! That’s right, take a few steps back, we’ll catch you if anything!” The man with the marking says.

The pale woman and the other man have nothing to say, their expression looks grim. They seem to not believe she can make this jump.

The red-haired woman shakes her head from left to right.“N-no… I can’t make that, it’s too far…!!”

“Yes you can! How can you know without trying?!” I say.

“You all know it too… There’s no way I can make it across by jumping…”

A strange anger erupts from the man with the markings, I feel as though some of it isn’t necessarily directed toward the red-haired woman. “So what then?! You stay there forever, and you do nothing!? Is that what you want?!”

She bites her lip anxiously. “N-no, but look! You know I can’t make it!”

An idea comes to me. “W-what about the ropes. What if you tried walking on them?”

“Surely you jest. What if it breaks? Then we all fall. What a foolish idea.” Says the man with the mean eyes.

I lash out. “So?! What do you suggest then?! We can’t leave her behind! Do you have an idea that’s not foolish?!”

The man glares at me, and I glare back. I’m not backing down. He takes a step forward, trying to intimidate me with his wider build, but so do I, staring directly into his amber eyes.

‘That’s always the problem with nobles, they only care about themselves! Huh… wait, how did I know he was a noble…?’

The pale woman inserts herself between us. “Tsk, there’s no point in fighting, pretty boys…Have you ever been to the circus?”

She doesn’t let us answer. “Well, I have, once, a long time ago with my mother… And there, I saw these acrobats called trapezists, which I’m sure you’re familiar with. Obviously, we’re no acrobats. But I’m fairly certain we have the strength to at least imitate what they do. If we do it right, we can bridge at least a part of the gap, allowing her to make it across.”

“...And what if you fail?” The man with the short hair says.

“Then she dies, but she’d die if we don’t, so I’ll take my chances, except if you have a better idea?”

He doesn’t reply.

“Yeah, I didn't think so. Now, since I’m obviously the lightest as I’m not a burly man like you three, I’ll be the catcher. Then, let’s see…”

‘Well, she is kind of tall, so I’m not entirely sure she’s the lightest, but I feel like I shouldn’t mention it.’

She points to me. “You’ll be my trapeze, you’ll hold my legs firmly. I trust you to not drop me the most between you three!”

She then turns to speak to the red-haired girl. “Heyy! You know what a trapezist is right? Well, this guy is going to swing me back and forth making it so that you have less distance to jump. You’re a smart girl, so you’re going to time it appropriately and jump into my arms, got it?”

She seems to be thinking for a while, staring into the endless expanse of the chasm, then answers. “U-um, yeah? I guess that could work!”

We get into position. I lay on my stomach, and let both of my arms hang into the void, anchoring my body at the armpits so that I have a wide range of motion to sway the pale woman. Then, with one hand on the rope, both the man with the markings and the short-haired one hold one of my legs with their other hand, ensuring that I won’t slip and fall alongside the pale woman. Finally, the pale woman lets me grab her ankles and simply lets herself fall into the abyss. I feel the entire weight of her body as my arms tense up, trying to keep hold of her.

A strain in my voice, I speak. “O-okay, ready? I’m going to begin now.”

With a back and forth motion of my arms, aided by the woman shifting her body in accordance with the motion, she begins to sway back and forth, reaching higher with each repetition. I can feel the grip of the men behind me tightening around my legs, doing their utmost to not let me slip. This lasts a few moments, until the woman consistently reaches a nearly ninety degrees angle in every cycle.

Finally, the signal is given. “Alright, any day now girl!”

Curious, I raise my eyes to get a glimpse of the red-haired woman’s face, and it’s not looking good. Clearly, she is terrified. I can’t blame her, I would be too. Large droplets of cold sweat trickle down her forehead and a crystal clear sense of nervousness shines in her eyes. Everytime she wants to jump, she catches herself before committing to the leap and remains right where she is. It seems that fear has made her unable to move. Feeling a gradual loss of strength in my hands, I cry out.

“I can’t hold on forever, you have to jump!”

“Come on! This is your only chance!” The man with the markings yells, a strain in his voice.

“Do you truly intend to die there?!” The man with the short hair adds.

She tries once more to jump, but to no avail. She fails to leap off of the wooden bridge and the red-haired woman falls to her knees, a slump in her body. “I-I can’t! Just go on witho-”

Anger wells up within me. “Shut up! Yes you can! You’re not dying here! Stand up!”

“N-no, I-”

“I said shut up! Stop thinking about useless stuff! We’re not leaving until you make it across, so you can already drop that thought!! Don’t you have people waiting for you?! Now, stand up and jump!”

A spark appears in her eyes. Painstakingly, she stands back up, her fist clenched until blood drips from her palm, a new found resolve blowing life into her.

“I-I’ll jump…!!”

Finally, when the time is right, the red-haired woman jumps, and as if she were a cog fitting right into place, she is caught by the pale woman.

When she is caught, the sudden increase in weight almost makes me drop the two women, but I hold on nonetheless. Now, All that is left is for the other two to pull all three of us up. Both of them seem rather strong, hence, it should not be too difficult, or so I think, until I hear a soft, yet chilling cracking noise under me.

‘There’s too much weight! The plank under me is going to give!!’