The Bridge Of Sorrows

Chapter 1 The Old Tale

After babysitting, I always waited for my mom to finish her shift at the bar. Every day I visited her with my friend Dorris to tell her what events had occurred throughout the day. 

“Hey girls, I’ll be over in a minute!” Mom shouted upon spotting us in the crowd.

Dorris leaned in conspiratorily, “Hey Vanessa, we should tell your mom that we overheard Mr. Johnson talking to another woman about taking a so-called business trip.” 

“Hush, Dorris, no, that would be so wrong of us even to bring that up,” I scolded.

“Ahh, come on, Vanessa!” 

Impatience etched my face as I responded, “Noooo, Dorris!” 

“Fine,” she huffed in resignation.

Mom’s voice drifted into our conversation. “Hey girls, what story do you two have for me today?” 

Dorris blurted, “Mr. Johnson is taking a so-called business trip soon with a co-worker of his, but they were flirty about it all.” 

“Dorris! I said no, ugh. Mom, I think he’s cheating on his wife. He was on the phone with a woman who was urging him to, and I quote, ‘Hurry up and pack your bags.’ Then she said, ‘I’ll come over to pick you up tomorrow. Don’t tell your wife where you’re going.’ Can you believe that, Mom?”

Mom’s eyes narrowed. “What? Vanessa, you weren’t going to tell me this?”

“I wasn’t sure,“ I stammered, “I just wish I knew more.” 

Mom stood up. “Well, girls. I’m about to finish my last 10 minutes here. I will see you later and we can finish our conversation then.”

 “Bye, Mom!”

Dorris started back up immediately. “Well, Vanessa, how can we figure more about Mr. Johnson?”

Who Is This Guy 

 As soon as I was about to respond, a man pulled up a chair. He had on black jeans and a white shirt. His jeans were dirty and torn, and his shirt had stains as if he’d been working in the dirt. He reeked of alcohol. I overheard you girls talking about wanting to know something?” 

Dorris and I turned and looked at each other. “Yeah, that’s right,” I said cautiously.

“What if I told you girls that you can get your answer from a bridge? It can tell you anything you want to know, anything at all. But for this to happen,” he leaned in closer and lowered his voice, “you must make an offering. Not just any offering though. It must be something meaningful and precious to you.” 

Dorris and I were quiet for about five seconds until Dorris said, “Dude, what are you talking about?”  

Where It Begins

“Alright,” the man said, “let me tell you a tale about the bridge. Before this city was a town, there was a girl whose name was Raven that came across a bridge. It was raining that day, and once she stepped upon it, it got frigid as the temperature dropped. She had her pet frog in hand and wanted to know if a boy in her class had a crush on her. She leaned against the bridge, but she accidentally dropped her frog. She was crying profusely, but the bridge said to Raven, ‘The boy in your class you are talking about likes you, but he’s timid to tell you.’  Raven heard what the bridge said. 

The boy approached the girl the following day and said, ‘Raven, I like you, but I’ve been too afraid to tell you.’  Since that day, Raven went around town saying it was this magic bridge that would tell you anything you wanted to know, but only if you give up something precious.”

Skeptically, I said, “How do you even know if this is real? How long ago did this story supposedly take place?” 

The man said it happened in the ’90s. Dorris noted we are in the 2000s man, and that’s probably a made-up story. 

Lilith Lane

The man sat up straighter. “No, it’s not. Raven started to get so many answers for what she wanted to know that she got addicted to. The strain of it lead her to kill herself. Sacrificing something that means so much to oneself must have been so hard on her. It drove her to the ultimate despair.” 

Maybe, just maybe this could be true, I thought. Prodding for more information, I asked, “How do you know all about this? Where is this bridge anyway?” 

 “Because my father told me. The bridge can be found on West Blvd. Lilith Lane.” With that, he pulled himself out of his chair and walked heavily away. 

Dorris was wide-eyed and jittery. “Vanessa, do you think that guy was serious?” 

“I’m not sure,” I responded cautiously, “but that story was fascinating. We should at least check it out.”

“I don’t know, Vanessa. It’s getting late, don’t you think?” 

“Please, Dorris?” 

some of my favorite reads this year: six of crows duology, acotar series, some miscell. contemporary romance books. 

Chapter 8 Sorrows

The fog thickened as we trudged through the brush, the twins following me, their footsteps uncertain.

“What the hell is this place, Vanessa? This is weird,” Susanne said, her voice uneasy.

“This is beyond sketchy,” Sara added, glancing over her shoulder as if expecting something to emerge from the mist.

“I know it feels strange,” I said, a tight smile on my lips. “But you’ll be amazed by what you’re about to see.”

We stepped onto the bridge, and the air seemed to grow colder.

“Where the hell are we?” Sara asked, looking around in confusion.

“What if I told you that this bridge could answer any question you had? That it knows everything?” I paused, letting the silence sink in. “Sara, wouldn’t you like to know if you’re going to make it to the WNBA?”

Her eyes lit up with sudden excitement. “Hell yeah! But what’s the catch?”

I glanced at both of them, my heart racing. “You have to offer something meaningful—something personal.”

“Like my pompoms?” Susanne asked, her brow furrowing.

“Exactly,” I replied, my voice calm, though inside I was trembling.

Sara laughed. “This is ridiculous! You can’t be serious.”

They both started laughing, but I couldn’t join them. The bridge’s power, the deity’s presence, weighed heavily on me. Should I tell them what I’ve already given up? Dorris… baby John? The price is always high, but I had no choice. I needed answers.

“I’ll do it,” Sara said, stepping toward the edge of the bridge, her basketball in hand.

“Wait!” Susanne lunged at her, slapping her hard across the face. Blood spurted from Sara’s nose, staining the basketball in her hands.

“Are you insane? You love that basketball! You scored 46 points with it, and now you want to give it up for a stupid answer? What if Vanessa’s just messing with us?”

Sara wiped the blood from her nose, glaring at her sister. “I need to know. You don’t understand. I’ve worked too hard to fail now.”

Their argument seemed distant, like echoes from a past life. Something darker was twisting inside me, warping my thoughts. This had to happen. I needed to know why the deity had chosen this form—why it had taken the shape of this cursed bridge.

Sara turned toward the ledge, gripping her bloodied basketball. “Will I make it to the WNBA?” she asked, her voice filled with desperation.

The air thickened, and from beneath the bridge, a red glow began to pulse, growing brighter. The voice from the depths of the bridge was deep, guttural.

“You will succeed… but not without pain. Your ambition will cost you friendships, and not all those who stand with you are loyal.”

Sara’s face paled, her eyes wide in disbelief. “Holy shit, Vanessa was right…”

Susanne stood frozen, staring at the bridge in horror. “What the hell is this?” she whispered, backing away. “What did you do, Vanessa?”

I stepped closer to them, my mind racing. This was the moment. I had to act.

I couldn’t risk them leaving, not before I had my answer.

“You’ve always been the smart one, Susanne,” I said softly. “But there’s something you don’t know.”

Both twins turned to me, their eyes narrowing in suspicion. “What?” Sara asked.

I stepped between them, my voice barely a whisper. “I still haven’t asked the bridge my question.”

They glanced at each other, confusion etched on their faces.

“What do you need to know?” Susanne asked.

I looked past them, into the pulsing red light, and spoke aloud, “Deity, why did you take the form of this bridge?”

Before they could react, I shoved both twins forward with all my strength. They screamed as they tumbled over the ledge, disappearing into the crimson glow.

For a brief, breathless moment, there was only silence. Then, the voice of the deity rumbled up from the depths.

“I took this form to blend into the mortal world. My sisters sought to destroy me, but I survived by hiding. I needed blood to regain my strength. Thanks to you, Vanessa, I now have enough to take my true form. And I will have my vengeance.”

My body trembled as the realization hit me. I had fed it—Dorris, baby John, now the twins. I was its pawn all along, and now, I’d given it what it wanted.

I collapsed to my knees, tears streaming uncontrollably down my face. “What have I done?” The words barely escaped my lips, the weight of my guilt pressing down like a suffocating fog. The crimson glow beneath the bridge began to fade, but its haunting presence remained, forever imprinted in my mind. The deity’s laughter still echoed, a cruel reminder of the irreversible choices I had made.

I stood, every step heavy with the burden of my actions. I approached the bridge’s ledge, peering down into the dark void that had swallowed Susanne and Sara. Their laughter, their faces—everything about them—was now just a fading memory, consumed by the abyss.

I climbed onto the ledge, the wind tugging at my hair, but it didn’t feel like freedom. It felt like the end of everything. I thought of Dorris. I thought of baby John. I thought of the twins. All the people I had sacrificed, gone because of my greed, my desperation, my inability to resist the whispers that had twisted my mind.

The sky above was vast and empty, but even in its expanse, I felt no release, no solace.

“I can never follow them,” I whispered, my voice cracking under the weight of sorrow. “Wherever they’ve gone… I can never be with them.”

I had crossed a line—too far, too deep into the darkness. I had betrayed everything good, and now I stood alone, forever severed from the world I once knew. This was my punishment, my exile from everything I had loved and lost.

With one final breath, I closed my eyes, letting go. But as I fell backward into the abyss, it wasn’t the deity’s laughter that followed me.

Chapter 6 No Remorse

Something was compelling me to return to Lilith Blvd. I felt a deep curiosity about the bridge—its origins, its powers, and the ominous warning that I would regret crossing it. There had to be more to this bridge than met the eye.

Arriving at Lilith Blvd, I got out of the car, took John out of his car seat, and placed him in his stroller. As I approached the bridge with him, I remembered Dorris’s account of discovering it. The wind picked up, the clouds thickened, and the scent of rain was heavy in the air. A chill ran through me as the wind whipped my hair. A profound sense of dread washed over me, and I gripped John’s stroller tightly, sensing an unseen force tugging at it, as if trying to pull him away from me.

I quickly lifted John out of the stroller. He was unnervingly calm, not a single cry escaped his lips. I held him close, studying his solemn face. He wasn’t smiling, and something about him felt disturbingly off. I carried him toward the spot where Dorris had fallen from the bridge. I wanted answers about this bridge and its true nature.

Holding John high, he looked at me with an expression of sadness, as if he knew something terrible was about to happen. I held him over the edge of the bridge, our eyes locked, and tears streamed down his face. He kicked his legs frantically, and my heart ached. “John, I’m so sorry. I love you with all my heart,” I whispered, struggling with the impulse to let him go.

Suddenly, my arms were pulled back, forcefully preventing me from dropping him. It felt as if Dorris was intervening, stopping me from harming John. I was horrified by the thought. This wasn’t like me at all—I felt controlled by some external force. I would never intentionally hurt John.

I slowly walked toward the end of the bridge, a cold gust of wind brushing past my ears. A soothing, melodic voice echoed, “I’ll tell you anything you want to know, give me an offering.”

I looked down at John in my arms, kissed his forehead, and saw him smile. The tears had stopped. With a heavy heart, I threw him over the ledge. The bridge erupted in a wicked laugh that sent shivers down my spine and raised goosebumps on my skin.

“What would you like to know?” the voice inquired.

“Well, what are you? And where did you come from?”

“I am a deity, the death goddess and a warrior. I sought to rise through the ranks to compete with the other top warrior goddesses, but a battlefield injury halted my progress. That’s more than you need to know for now.”

“Others? Are there more like you?”

“That’s all I have for now. If you wish to know more, you know where to find me.”