🌊 Bridge To Africa 🌉

         We just moved here, to Florida. Away from all the friends I managed to make; away from my happy childhood. Said childhood ended a year ago, when inflation got way too high, and my parents had to work more and take double shifts and two jobs per parent. Honestly, if they didn’t spend their money on junk food and tipping waitresses thousands of dollars, we’d probably be fine.

         I wonder why we moved here. I thought a condo in Florida was super expensive. My parents said we moved here because it’s cheaper. Maybe it’s cheaper because there’s a chance too many icebergs will melt and cause Florida to go underwater, I dunno.

         It’s all inflation’s fault. We had to sell our mansion, cabin, and our apartment in New York to buy this beachside home. Mom said she’s always wanted a house like this, and Dad wanted me to have fun swimming. Little did he know, it’s worse here. Before we moved to this god-awful place, I had friends and a loving family who hung out with me at least every other day. But now, I have none of that, plus a beach that’s never going to get used because I think swimming is overrated. My parents are never home. When they are, it’s only for taking naps before work, but even then, they get hotel rooms half the time. On top of all that, everyone at school makes fun of me for being filthy rich, even though they are rich, too. Well, at least most of them.

Nowadays, I just pace up and down the beach listening to music to block out all the bad thoughts about people; my parents included.

Today though, I was sick of looking at the same beach and being alone. So, on this Saturday morning, instead of pacing on Daytona beach, I decided to take a taxi and visit another beach on the other side of this colossal peninsula. I got the money to do this from Mom & Dad, they said I could go as long as it keeps me happy, and I bring my security guard, not that I have a choice. Truth be told, they just want me out of their hair.

I’m bringing snacks for the ride and a picnic basket with a banket. Not my bathing suit. I swam so much; I hate it.

You probably think my parents are in lots of magazines, commercials, and other things filthy rich people do, but they are not. We’re not popular enough to be famous on social media or something like that, but we are popular enough to have every burglar at least attempt to break in once.

Once we got to the beach, I immediately noticed many things. One, this is not a private beach, two, my bodyguard’s eyes are darting all over, and three, there is a massive bridge made of dirt with a ton of vegetation and other wildlife on it. It looks like either people are ignoring it, or they just don’t see it. I say that because no one is looking directly at it nor going on it.

Running up to it, I almost tripped on the basket I was carrying. My bodyguard chased after me, calling my name. “Get back here!”

“Do you see it? It’s beautiful!” I breathed, stopping just before the flower-covered grass.

“Yes, I see it. We have a view of it back home. Now, could you please get away from the water? You don’t have a bathing suit, and you could die from a shark attack! Your parents would kill me! Or worse, fire me!” By now, a bunch of people were staring at us.

I took a few steps back, then ran and jumped on the soft, beautiful grass. “It’s so soft! You should feel it, Brandon!” I shouted, throwing my shoes off, then lying down in the flowerbed.

It felt softer than a pillow, almost like a sheep’s wool. The smell of fresh flowers mixed with the saltiness of the breeze made you want to go to sleep. The sun beat down on me, but it was not too hot, almost like there was a force field put up to block me from getting burnt. As I stared up, I saw the multi-colored trees looming over me, along with the flying squirrels gliding from tree to tree.

“Please don’t call me by my name in public,” my bodyguard looked around, then his gaze rested on me, and his eyes bulged out of his skull. “How’re you floating!”

Ignoring his comments, I ran deeper into the forest, deeper into the pink, yellow, and blue trees. The leaves were hearts, diamonds, even the forms of daisies. The bark looked like cave paintings of world history. There were also animals all around me. The animals were flying, walking, or crawling around and were all different colors as well. They were purple, dark blue, dark green, a couple were even teal!

The grass was a grass that looked like it got enough water every day. However, most of the grass was covered by many flowers of different shapes, sizes, and colors. There were rocks lining the side of the bridge, and they looked like ordinary rocks, except when the water hits them, a pattern appears. They’re like Petoskey stones.

I could live here and never get sad, mad, or feel bad, even if I’m sick. Maybe I should never go back home.

Then I started laughing, yes, laughing! I haven’t laughed since we moved here a year ago! And I was only laughing to show sarcasm! (I disbelieved we were moving.) Great, now I’m crying with joy. I gotta get ahold of myself!

“Wow, you must really love it here,” a friendly voice observed from my left.

I jumped at the sound as she jumped out of the purple berry bushes. The berries looked like mini coconuts.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” The girl said.

“It’s alright. Yes, I do like this place. It makes me happy, which is something I wasn’t for a year,” I sighed.

“That’s sad. I was like that a little before I found this place as well. I’m assuming you’re lonely too?” she supposed.

“What makes you think that?” I inquired.

“Well, the only people who could see this place are lonely. There aren’t many people here, only kids. I guess people in Florida must be happy a lot,” she claimed.

“What do you mean?” I speculated.

“Tell me why you’re sad, first,” she compromised.

“Well, ever since we moved here, my parents were just working, working, and working. We hardly ever see each other anymore. You’d think they’d be able to find time to spend with me, but I guess they are just too busy struggling to make money. Which is funny because we live in a very rich place,” I replied. “Who are you, anyway?”

“I am Gabriella. Welcome to the bridge on the Atlantic ocean,” she replied.

“Thank you, I’m Autumn,” I said, shaking her hand. “So, you said there were other kids here but no adults. What did you mean by that?”

“Well, this bridge is magical. The only people who could see it are lonely people. I also think that only kids could see it because there is an adult who goes on that beach you came from, every day, alone. As for the kids here… there are about twenty of us,” she explained.

“How was…” I started before we heard splashing to the left of the bridge.

“Autumn! Get down here this instance! Your parents will be furious!” Brandon hollered, barely staying afloat.

“Like I was saying, people like your friend there cannot see the bridge, nor us,” Gabriella explained.

“What do you mean? He does see me,” I responded.

“But he does not see me, does he? We found that if we eat a certain flower, we become invisible to people outside the bridge. Here, eat this,” she picked up a flower and shoved it in my mouth.

It didn’t taste like anything. It was weird. It was super easy to chew, and the petals basically melted. The aftertaste, however, was the worst. It tasted like a mix between pumpkin seeds and moldy cheese.

“Autumn! Where did you go!” Brandon yelped, eyes wide.

“Gross, that aftertaste is disgusting! Please tell me I don’t have to eat one ever again!” I exclaimed.

“Alright, you have to eat one of those every time you come to the island. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it after day two, to the point where you won’t taste it at all,” she revealed while I groaned. “Come on; I want to show you something,”

We left Brandon to his endeavors and continued walking east.

The peacefulness of this place astonishes me. I wish I had siblings to show this place to. But then again, I probably wouldn’t’ve found it in the first place if that was the case.

“Where do you live?” Gabriella wondered.

“Daytona beach. We just moved here a year ago. Because of inflation, we had to sell all our houses so we could buy a beachside house. Honestly, I think we should’ve just downsized but in the same area where we used to live. Because now, I have no friends, and the kids at school make fun of me,” I said. “You?”

“Oh, wow, that’s sad. I live near the beach we just came from, at least for now. My parents and I are taking a year-long vacation here, away from all the family drama. We’re hoping while we’re away, they will come together and start being kind to each other,” she replied.

“That’s stressful,” I commented.

“Yeah. Hey, at least we have something in common. I think we’ll make great friends,” she suggested.

“Me too,” I agreed.

We continued walking in silence, listening to the music the leaves made in the wind. It was a long while until we stopped. Here were a few tree stumps we sat on, with a moss table in front of us.

“Are… we almost there?” I gasped. Man, I need to get into shape.

“Yeah, just another mile until we’re there. We’re going halfway to Africa,” she answered.

“How are we getting there so soon? We’ve only been walking for a few hours,” I queried.

“Well, this place is magical,” she responded.

“Well, duh,” I eye-rolled.

“Yes, but it’s more magical than you think. When we walk on this bridge, it somehow makes it like we’re walking faster. You don’t notice it until you’ve traveled a great distance in only a few hours,” she explained.

“Huh, cool,” I said.

It took only ten minutes to get there. We arrived at the mouth of a cave, with voices coming from inside.

“We’re here,” Gabriella said. “Welcome to the lonely grove. We’re still working on the name,”

We walked inside and turned right. We came to a huge grove with tables, bean bags, a t.v, a bookshelf, and many more activities. The stuff was about twenty feet away from a small pond in the middle. There was even a refrigerator. Everything that needed electricity was close by a lightly humming generator.

Off to the side, near the cave entrance, by Gabriella and I, a few kids were playing soccer. Some kids were coloring at a table, and a couple of boys were sitting on bean bags playing a video game.

I could still smell the sea salts in the air and see many fish inside the grove pond. It was a little dark here, despite the few candles lighting up the area. It was kind of hard to walk, for the rock floor was very uneven. Looking ahead, I could tell the rock evens out the further you go into the cave. A few tables had to have some wood or something underneath them to make them not wobble back and forth.

“Cool,” I gaped.

“Yeah, it’s nothing much. I found this place a couple of years ago and found all of these guys wandering around on the bridge, so I brought them all here. All this stuff was already here, almost as if the bridge wanted us to come together and hang out,” Gabriella shrugged. “Guys, this is Autumn. Autumn, these are all the kids like you, who found this bridge,”

“Hello,” I greeted.

“Hi,” they all said in unison.

 Gabriella gave me a tour of the cave and introduced me to some of the children.

“This is Jacob. He comes from Africa, where the bridge ends,”  Gabriella introduced.

The boy had dark skin. He held a book in one hand and a glass of punch with an umbrella in another.

“Hello, you will like it here. I can tell you’re going to make a lot of friends here,” he said, shaking my hand.

“Thank you, you’re very kind,” I replied.

When we were out of earshot, Gabriella said, “Jacob lives here, actually. His country is at war, and he was separated from his parents. He’s waiting for the war to be over right now.”

Before I could respond a cute little girl about eight years old came up to us. “Hello! I’m Susie. I love all colors, preferably rainbows. I also love all animals! They’re all so cute! Even sharks!” Once she introduced herself, she skipped back to the coloring station.

“How was she ever lonely? Where are her parents?” I wondered.

“Her parents died, and she became the opposite she is now. She had no other family to go to. Before she was put in an orphanage, she found the bridge. She lives here now, with Jacob taking care of her,” Gabriella whispered. “She was also the first one to ever had found this bridge.”

“Oh, how young was she when she found it?” I wondered.

“Around five. She was very conscious of what she was doing, unlike other five-year-old’s,” Gabriella responded. I was silent for the rest of the tour, except for saying Hello.

This place is incredible. As seen, there are tons of things to do here. Gabriella said that the oil in the generator and the food magically renew every night. But how?

As much fun as I’m having, I miss my parents. They should be getting home very soon, and we have a four-hour walk back to the beach. I also don’t want to get in trouble. I do hope Brandon didn’t call the cops.

“As much as I’d love to stay, it’s getting late. I need to be heading home now,” I said as we ate some snacks I brought on the picnic blanket.

“I understand. I’ll tell the others while you clean up. Then I’ll help you get across,” Gabriella proposed.

“Thank you,” I said.

After putting back all the uneaten snacks and the wrappers of some, I went inside the cave to say goodbye, and then we headed out.

About halfway through our stroll, a storm started. I could feel the furious wind whipping against my face. Despite that, it was very… peaceful. At first, it was going about really fast, like it was angry at us, then it slowed down to a nice cool breeze, which is what makes it funny.

Waves lapped against the bridge, even going over the bridge. The rain fell over the bridge, but not onto the bridge. There was some sort of invisible protection against the heavy weather. It was really cool, actually. Some fish and even a few sharks were swept up with the waves, and we looked at them as they looked at us from above the bridge.

There was another thing. Usually, waves this big give a large crash! Well, inside the forcefield, it was super muffled.

Once we were in sight of the beach, the storm ended. When we looked behind us, the storm was still raging. 

The beach looked as we left it, but there was almost no one there except Brandon.

“I guess this is goodbye,” I sighed.

“You’re coming back, right?” Gabriella hesitated.

“Of course. This was the most fun I’ve had in years,” I beamed. “I just don’t know when.”

“Oh, okay. See you next time, bye!” she said.

“Bye! See you!” I waved then hopped off the bridge.

Brandon was in a horrible state. He was pacing back and forth, and his hair was all disheveled.

“Brandon! You would not believe what happened!” I shouted, running up to him.

“Autumn! Where did you go? You were gone all day!” he sighed.

As we drove home in a taxi, I told him all about the bridge and all the kids that were there. By the end of it, I think he actually believed me.

We also promised not to tell Mom and Dad. However, that did not stop the wrath of my parents.

Apparently, they actually noticed me gone, and they called Brandon repeatedly, trying to get information on where we were. It even got to the point where Mom and Dad almost called the cops. That was when we walked through the door of our house.

We had a huge fight that lasted a couple of hours, and in the end, we all agreed to try harder to remember each other’s existence. Despite the pressing questions of my parents asking where we went, Brandon was able to keep the bridge a secret. I didn’t want them to know because they might think I was crazy and would not ever take me seriously. We were a family again, and I finally found some friends at school… overtime, at least. Despite all this, I can somehow cross the bridge once a month. Maybe Gabby could answer that for me, if she ever comes back to have another vacation here.