The Bridge by Enza Gandolfo

Author:Enza Gandolfo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC000000, FIC014000
Publisher: Scribe Publications
Published: 2018-05-13T16:00:00+00:00

The Ashleigh portrayed in the newspaper articles after the accident bore little resemblance to the real Ash. They quoted the school principal: ‘Ashleigh was an exemplary member of the school community.’ In Ash’s school reports, none of the teachers called her exemplary. They quoted Mrs Zapatero, a neighbour, who cried during her interview: ‘She was quiet and kind.’ This was the same girl who had talked Jo into hacking Mrs Zapatero’s roses one night after the woman had complained to Rae about Ash’s bad language.

One of Ash’s uncles was quoted saying, ‘Jo was a bad influence on Ashleigh.’ An unnamed neighbour: ‘I hope that girl gets what she deserves.’

Ash wasn’t a saint. Jo longed to run up and down the streets of Yarraville screaming at them all, She’s no fucking saint.

Jo tore the articles out, shredded them into small, unreadable pieces, and stuffed them under her mattress. Ash wasn’t a bad person — she was funny, she was clever, she was never lost for words — but sometimes she was a bitch. Sometimes she was a cow. She could be nasty and mean. Say hurtful things.

But Ash was dead and Jo was alive, and even though she wished and wished, nothing could change that. She remembered the text messages sent anonymously the day after the accident: You should be dead. Murderer, scum of the earth, it should have been you who died.

The sender was right. She was a murderer, a criminal. Because of her, Ash was dead. Nothing would ever, ever change that. She could climb mountains, she could win medals, she could save the world from alien invasion, but she would still be a murderer.

You, climb mountains, win medals? Give me a break. I’m dead and you want sympathy.

‘No, I’m not asking for sympathy,’ Jo said out loud even though she knew Ash was not in the room.

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