Winner of the bridge short story competition
Shinkyo Bridge
by
DP Walker

I gaze at the rushing water below as the light fades. I tear a corner off my book and watch it twirl slowly until it hits the water and flows away, remembering a game Michiko and I used to play.

'Hey, mine went further than yours!'

'Didn't!'

'Loser!'

'Shut up!'

I shiver. It's getting cold and I should go home.

I look up at the cedar trees, swaying in the night like a silent army.

The Shinkyo is the most beautiful bridge in Japan with its red structure spanning the Daiya River. Tourists flock here in their thousands as they walk from Nikko station up to the famous shrines. But the Shinkyo is our bridge; Michiko's and mine. Tourists may cross it, take photos and enjoy the view, but none of them can share the special moments we share here.

It was on the Shinkyo that Michiko told me I was her best friend. It was on the Shinkyo we swore an oath to be friends forever. We share all our secrets on this bridge. It was on the Shinkyo Michiko told me she hated her sister because she stole her scarf. It was on the Shinkyo I told Michiko my father used to watch porn films when my mother went away.

It was on the Shinkyo Michiko told me that she wanted to kiss a boy. I didn't speak to her for ages after that because I was jealous.

The bridge is sacred. My father told me that the hermit who founded Nikko was carried across the river here by two serpents and in olden times, the bridge could only be used by the Emperor. I smile to myself in the darkness and whisper.

'But it's ours now, isn't it Michiko?'

I chew a rice ball. I don't feel like going home. My parents will worry, but I don't care. I rest my head on the top of the bridge and close my eyes.

I must have dozed off because the next thing I remember is my father lifting me up and carrying me down the hill, past the station and home. My mother pats my head as my father carries me up to bed.

In my dreams, Michiko holds my hand as we skip through the forest with the rays of morning sunlight streaming through the trees. She grabs my lunchbox and I chase after her, trying to snatch it back.

The next day at school I cannot concentrate. Michiko is absent because she has a cold. I draw a picture of a serpent on my book. As soon as school finishes, I call Michiko to ask her if she is better and if she can come to the Shinkyo because I have some chocolate cookies. However, Michiko's mother answers and tells me Michiko cannot come today. I ask her if she can come tomorrow, but she hangs up.

I go to the Shinkyo anyway. I eat the cookies by myself.

My father finds me asleep again. He scolds me and tells me I will catch a cold.

'You mean like Michiko?' I ask him, but he ignores me.

That night I cannot sleep. I worry one day, we will have to leave Nikko. Michiko tells me that she wants to go to university in Tokyo. She tells me she wants to become a doctor. I tell her she could do that in Nikko but she tells me she needs to go away to study for a long time. I never want us to leave Nikko.

I remember Michiko telling me about her brother who went to university in Tokyo. Before he went, he was a normal high school student. When he came back for holidays, he'd grown long hair and dyed it brown. He also started wearing strange clothes and listening to awful music. Michiko stole a CD from his room and we listened to it on the Shinkyo one afternoon. It was just a lot of shouting with swearing in English I didn't understand.

'Don't go to Tokyo Michiko! You'll end up just like Toshi!'

I turn over in bed.

'Michiko?'

My mother comes into my room and mops my brow. She tells me I have a fever and that I shouldn't go to school tomorrow.

'Maybe I caught it from Michiko!'

I'm happy because I don't have to go to school. I text Michiko to tell her I will be on the Shinkyo at 12pm after my mother has gone to visit my grandmother, but she doesn't reply. I bet her mother has confiscated her phone.

The next morning I take medicine and eat plain rice. As soon as my mother goes out, I head up to the Shinkyo. On the way, I stop at the convenience store. I buy some tuna rice balls and some chocolate. I buy enough for two in case Michiko can sneak away.

Sachiko, the girl behind the counter who used to go to our school, tells me it's a shame about Michiko. I agree but say she will be better soon. I ask Sachiko if Michiko has been in today. Sachiko gives me an odd look. I remember Michiko telling me that Sachiko was the youngest of a family of eight and none of the children had ever left Nikko and how terrible that must be. I just snorted and told her that Nikko was the most beautiful place in all Japan with the most beautiful bridge in the world, so why should anyone want to leave?

I sit on the bridge dangling my legs and look at the water swirling below whilst I chew the rice balls. I must have been hungry because I manage to eat everything.

'Sorry Michiko,' I mutter as I rub my hands together and watch the crumbs fall into the Daiya.

A group of tourists come onto the bridge waving their cameras and giggling.

'Hey, isn't this bridge amazing?' One of them says. 'Take a photo of me sitting on it!'

I get angry. How dare they invade our personal space!

'Get off our bridge!' I shout. 'It doesn't belong to you, it belongs to me and Michiko!'

They scurry away up the hill.

I sneak home before my mother's return. I text Michiko telling her to meet me on the Shinkyo tonight at midnight and I will bring some lemonade. We both know this is code to tell her I will steal some saké from my father's cupboard.

Surely, she will come tonight?

I glance at my phone constantly. My mother lets me come downstairs and watch a quiz show on TV. Eventually I get a text! It's from Michiko! She's going to meet me on the Shinkyo tonight!'

At a quarter to midnight, I open my bedroom window looking out into the moonlit sky. I climb down the drainpipe with my rucksack on my back, full of saké and rice crackers, nervous with excitement.

As I hit the ground, I land on our cat and it screeches. I lie still in the shadows as my father peeks out, but luckily he doesn't see me.

I hurry to the Shinkyo in case Michiko is already there, but she's not. The bridge is even more beautiful in the moonlight. I perch on the top and sip some saké. I feel the alcohol warming my insides.

I check my watch. Michiko is late! Maybe she got caught by her parents. I hope she makes it; it would be such a shame to miss this lovely moonlight view!

Midnight passes. I soon realise I have drunk almost all the saké and start to sway. I shovel the crackers into my mouth.

Suddenly I hear footsteps on the bridge! Michiko?

My heart sinks as I realise it is not Michiko. It is her older brother Toshi! He must have got my text and tricked me! The shit!

'Toshi, what are you doing here? Where's Michiko?'

'Don't be stupid Yumi! You know Michiko can't come here tonight.'

'Why on earth not? She has a cold. It won't kill her.' I can feel my words slurring from drinking too much saké.

'Yumi, we both know she doesn't have a cold.'

'Don't tell me she went through with that crazy idea of going off to Tokyo to be a doctor! I told her she would turn out like you, with your crazy hair and stupid music taste.'

'Yumi, come with me. You should be at home.'

'Fuck off!'

Toshi comes up to me and shake me by the shoulders.

'Yumi, stop messing around like this! Get down!'

'I want to see Michiko!'

'Yumi, so do I! We all do, but we can't!'

'Why not?'

'Because she's dead, Yumi. You understand that don't you?'

'Dead? Don't be ridiculous! I was with her here only the other day. Was it Tuesday? Or Sunday?'

'Yumi, she's been dead for almost three months now. We're all trying to come to terms with it. It was a tragic accident, but we need to move on.'

I sway back and forth unable to believe what Toshi is telling me. I rack my brains to remember when Michiko and I were last here.

I close my eyes. I picture several scenes as my head starts to spin from the alcohol and the noise of the water rushing beneath me. I picture Michiko telling me she was my best friend. I picture Michiko telling me Toshi was moving away. I picture us both getting drunk on the Shinkyo and Michiko being sick. I picture when telling Michiko I loved her and us kissing each other on the lips. I picture Michiko telling me she wanted to kiss a boy from our class. I picture me grabbing Michiko by the neck. I picture her falling into the water below.

'You told me we'd always be together Michiko!' I wail. 'You stupid bitch!'

'Hey, go easy,' says Toshi. I'd forgotten he was there.

'I don't care. She betrayed me. She's a whore. I'm glad she's dead. I'm glad I pushed her. She deserved it. She broke a promise.'

Toshi is staring at me. I see the horror in his face in the moonlight until a cloud covers the moon. I throw my head back and swallow the rest of the saké. I must have overbalanced because I suddenly feel my legs flying above my head and I see the Shinkyo disappearing above me.

The cold of the water shocks me. I struggle to keep my head above the water, but the current pulls me under.

'MICHIKO!'

The current is too strong. Now I know how Michiko must have felt after I pushed her. Suddenly I feel the anger slipping away and feel only remorse and panic.

Will I see Michiko now?

I hope she can forgive me.

© D P Walker 2009

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DP Walker is, as yet, an unpublished author, specialising in fiction novels and short stories. His first novel, Flat Circle is complete and he is currently half way through writing his second novel. He lives in Yorkshire and works full time in international marketing, writing in his spare time.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more competitions, see here

home children comedy competition crime drama fiction join now links media news non-fiction poetry publish romance self-publish shop short story tutorials forum

For lively club discussion on writing see here.