Bridge To Terabithia 2: The Last Time - Part 1 || ?

Chapter 16: Burke Family

Jess rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Of course he would. That's a normal reaction from a father," he sighed. "And then?"

"He wants to 'visit' him in jail tomorrow. With me."

It's likely that he might hurt him. It was true anyways. "So that's what all the yelling was about last night?"

"Yeah."

He looked at her in question. "Then why were you crying earlier?"

"Oh!" She said. "The door hit my face when someone opened the door."

Jess shook his head disappointingly at her and then intentionally pushed her. "How can you even hit yourself with a door..." He sighed.

Leslie skipped ahead of him and then stopped in front, making him stop as well.

"Like this,"

She smacked him straight in the face with her palm, not too hard, but also not too soft, but hard enough for Jess to feel the pain.

"Ow, ow, ow!"

The next day, Leslie didn't come to school like she told Jess because she was going to confront her uncle with Bill and it was likely that she was going straight to Terabithia after that.

    For the next few hours, Jess stayed in Terabithia doing his homework, drawing, and just watching the Terabithians walking around. After some time, May Belle came and joined him. And also sparred, with him winning of course. He was of course, the king of Terabithia. No one was going to beat him. Maybe Leslie, but not May Belle because she was too short.

     In the afternoon and in the midst of hunting for some squogers that were roaming around, queen of Terabithia, Leslie Burke returned. Jess left the princess of Terabithia to finish off the hunt while he and the Queen retreated back to the stronghold where she would spill the news about the happenings in the outside world.

"Well," she was whispering. "My dad punched him."

"Serves him right."

She punched him in the shoulder with a laugh. "Why did I even hide this from ya'll?"

Jess shrugged his shoulders and smirked. "You didn't hide it from me though," he chuckled. "I knew it."

"No words," she said proudly.

     The next morning Leslie told him that her uncle was sentenced to 15 years in Jail which was agreeable and sensible, seeing as he kidnapped a child and didn't let her go for maybe an eternity. The motives of Leslie's uncle was really morbid. That night when Leslie escaped, he was going to sell her to some people. It was a good thing she escaped or else she might've never seen her family again.

It was Saturday morning when Jess finally revved up all his courage to ask Leslie about how her uncle was related to the Burke's, and why he would even do such a thing.

Jess rolled over his stomach on Leslie's bed as she went to explain her family tree.

"Grandfather papa Jules had a son with Grandmother mama Liz, and that was my dad, Bill Burke. But somewhere along their marriage, my grandfather had an affair with another woman which led to uncle Jason being born."

He listened carefully to Leslie's explanation but he once in a while, he would look at the bracelet he gave her on her wrist and try not to crack a smile.

"Okay, so why'd your uncle kidnap you then?"

She rolled her eyes and gave a sigh. "Well, before my dad and mom got married, there was another affair."

    "Woah, history repeats huh?"

     She stared at him with a blank face which made him apologize. "Anyways-" she cleared her throat. "- My dad got dibs on my mom first, but uncle Jason also grew to like my mom but she didn't like him back-"

      "Wait, you're not gonna tell me that you have a long lost sister are ya?" He interrupted her.

     "Oh, for spaghetti sauce! Let me finish."

Jess nodded and kept quiet after that.

"After hearing the news of my dad and mom being together, uncle Jason got mad about the news. I heard he ran away after that and we didn't see him then. I only knew him from the pictures my dad showed me years ago."

Finally, he could say something. "Wow." Who thought that Leslie's family had such a history. "So that's why he took you away?"

"Yeah. He fessed up in the room yesterday." She answered.

They spent the rest of the afternoon in the Burke's house, helping Bill with painting a canvas. A new hobby he picked up while in New York. Said that it makes him feel 'inspired'. Oh and because it also made him let out his frustration creatively. Bill instructed both of them to paint the upper part while he painted the bottom part just because the bottom was easier.

From time to time, Judy would go down to read them the new chapters of her book, asking for their opinions on it and stuff and then go back up again to continue writing.

Finally, the painting was done. It was a beautiful scenery of a forest in fall.

Leslie placed her hands on her hips and gave a deep satisfied sigh. "Look at it," she said. "It's so... Fall-ish." Jess and Bill looked at her with funny faces. Truth to be told, she was actually looking at her own part of the painting, proud of how she colored it.

"Where do you suppose we should put it?" Bill asked, now carrying the wet painted canvas in his arms.

"I think we should let it dry off first, Bill." Jess responded with a grin.

Bill returned the canvas to its original place and then left the room to wash up. Mean while, Jess and Leslie headed upstairs to finish up doing their homework. Jess would need all the help he could get and no one in his family could help him because they were either busy, or just not interested enough.