The Girl on the Bridge

The sky darkened from blue as the clouds stretched over it. Those black clouds presaged a storm. A girl stood on the bridge, her eyes fixated on the sea. A moment later she turned as if she felt his intense gaze. Her thickly lustrous hair, the colour of coal, fell on her face. Her warm smile evoked a strange sense of mystery but it could not conceal the coldness behind those eyes.

“Ted! Ted!” A faint voice reached Ted’s ears. Someone was calling him. But the girl on the bridge was still looking at him with the same sad, cold eyes. “Hey, what are you doing here? What are you doing in this place?”, asked Ted as he looked around. “You, you cannot be here.” But the girl did not answer nor did she look away.

“Ted, you are going to be late. Ted!”, Elyn jolted Ted up from his sleep. “Didn’t you say you have a meeting today? You are so dead, Ted. Mr. Cooper is totally gonna chew you up.”

Ted looked around. Why did he again have that dream? It was the third time that week he had the same dreadful dream. “Is this some kind of a sign? No, no that cannot be”, he thought as he got down from the bed.

“Ted, why are you looking so awful so early in the morning?”, asked Elyn.

“Why are you so loud so early in the morning?”                    

“Humph. Do whatever you want. The breakfast is on the table. Oh! And come home early today, I got a surprise for you. I am leaving. All the best for your meeting, you will need it. Bye!”, said Elyn as she kissed Ted on the cheek and left.

With the scarlet- golden leaves hanging on the trees and some scattered on the pavements like confetti, the air smelled of coziness and warmth, announcing the arrival of fall. Ted’s mind however, was preoccupied with other thoughts. Why did he have the same dream again? That day things were not like how it always appeared in his dream. The graduation party which marks the end of a beautiful phase of a person’s life, for Ted it was only a beginning of a dreadful future. “Why did things have to turn out this way?”, Ted thought to himself as he prepared for the meeting. The meeting went great and Mr. Cooper did not chew him up but those lingering thoughts refused to leave his mind.

Ted came home early that evening at Elyn’s behest. He hated surprises and Elyn knew that. Yet every year on his birthday, she would plan a surprise which Ted could not help but absolutely adore. Elyn had always been that way. She did things which he hated and she did them even more to annoy him. But she was the only bright spot lighting up Ted’s dark world. She was his light at the end of the tunnel.

“So are you ready for your surprise, honey?”

“Come on, Elyn. You know how much I hate this. Spill it out now, for God’s sake!”

“No no not for God’s sake but only yours”, teased Elyn. Ted’s eyes almost shot daggers at her and she knew meant that it was going too far now. “Okay! So, for your birthday this year we are going on a trip. You need to take a leave for at least three days, no less.”

“Three days? Where are we going?”

“Highcliffe! We are going to Highcliffe!”, exclaimed Elyn, extremely proud of herself.

Ted felt as if the world around him had stopped as soon as he heard the name of the place. Darkness shrouded him and he could swear he heard his heart beating. “She said Highcliffe, right? Why out of all the places in the world, would she choose that God forsaken place?”, he thought to himself. Ted could feel himself falling into a cold bottomless pit, just when Elyn held his hand and pulled him out into the reality.

“Are you okay? Why are looking like you have seen a ghost?”

“No, I…I am fine. I am just a bit tired. It’s nothing a goodnight’s sleep can’t fix. Don’t worry.”, smiled Ted faintly.

 

It was the year 2011. To celebrate their graduation and the end of Mrs. Parsons’s terrible classes, Ted and his friends decided to go on a trip to Highcliffe. Neither did anyone imagine how fast the night would change nor did anybody foresee how the night of wassails and revelries would turn into a bloody nightmare that would haunt Ted for the rest of his life.

Highcliffe was just the same as Ted remembered- peaceful, calm and vibrant. Elyn had arranged everything for the trip; their hotel was right across the sea, from where the most beautiful sunset could be seen. But amidst everything, there were sudden occasional chills running down Ted’s bones. He should not have returned to this place. Yet he could not afford to break Elyn’s heart.

“Let’s freshen up and then go for some sightseeing?”, Elyn offered.

“Yeah let’s do that”, said Ted rather reluctantly. Flashes of the incident that happened ten years ago in that very place appeared before of his eyes-the sea, the bridge and that black-haired girl whose face he could not remember. The fear and dread that occupied Ted’s mind was right on the verge of taking over his entire being. “I should have never agreed to this trip. The dream…I should have known…”, he murmured.

Elyn sensed the note of reluctance in his voice. She had noticed how distracted Ted looked ever since they arrived. “Ted, what’s wrong? Do you not like the place or the hotel?”, she asked.

“Oh no, not at all, Elyn. I liked the place very much. I just…I was just worried about something from work. Let’s go out. We can freshen up later”, said Ted and he grabbed her hand and his coat.

The sun had already set and there was quite the bustle around. Locals, tourists all the same, flocked at the beach, the shops and cliff-top cafes. All the liveliness and Elyn’s cheeks flushed with excitement helped Ted to keep his thoughts at bay. It was all good and Ted had a feeling that nothing could go wrong and he tightened his grip on her hand.

“Let’s go to that café. It looks so pretty.”, said Elyn, elated.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

The red neon sign above the door of the café bar read “Cliffhanger”. It looked very familiar to Ted, as if he had been here but before he could manage his thoughts, Elyn dragged him inside. The sounds of the waves crashing threw Ted back in a whirl. Distorted images of a black haired girl, Ted running frantically on a street and a violent sea appeared before his eyes. “Why am I seeing these? They aren’t real!”, he thought, and closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down.

“Happy birthday, Ted!”, Elyn cried out at the top of her voice.

Ted looked around him. The waiters had encircled him with a cake and candles and his beautiful fiancé stood right before him.

“So how did you like it? Surprised much?”, asked Elyn.

“This is one of my best birthdays. Thank you so much, Elyn.”

“Well if you want to thank me, buy me boots.”

“Yes anything you want, babe”, Ted smiled. Perhaps it was his most genuine smile in a while.

Elyn called over a waiter and whispered something to him. Moments later their song was playing and Ted and Elyn began reminiscing how Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’ became their song. It was a year back on Christmas Eve, Ted had decorated their place with quite a few Christmas trees and lights which flickered to the beats of the song and when Elyn came home from work, he surprised her with a ring and she said “Yes!” almost instantly. However, Ted could not remember how they first met. It was almost as if a chunk of his memories were erased.

“I think we should head back.”, said Elyn. “I am so beat today. I just want a hot shower right now.”

“Yeah, it’s getting quite chilly too.”

As Elyn got up from her seat, Ted noticed a lighthouse by the coast, and a bridge, oddly familiar. Ted stood still and shuddered. “It is the same bridge”, he thought. “This is where I…” He noticed a vague figure standing on the bridge. It was quite dark. Ted narrowed his eyes to see clearly. “Yes, there’s definitely someone on that bridge.”, he muttered. “Elyn, come here for a minute.”

“What is it?”

“Can you see that person on the bridge? Doesn’t she look like a girl?”

“What person?”, asked Elyn as she looked over to the bridge.

“The girl on the bridge. Can’t you see her?”

“There’s no girl there, Ted. It’s so dark, you must be mistaken.”, shrugged Elyn and then went to collect her coat. “Let’s go!”

“I am mistaken? But she looks so much familiar.”, Ted thought. 

The girl on the bridge looked exactly like the one in his dreams, Ted realized as they walked back to their hotel. And as he did, his stomach turned and his heart dropped. He froze. A million thoughts passed in his mind. “But, but how is that possible? She is…she is dead. Did I really see wrong? Was Elyn right? Am I imagining things?”

Elyn was already a few steps ahead. She was so excited that she did not even realize that Ted was not walking beside her. She looked back and called him out. Ted stood there, caught in the prison of his own mind. “Ted, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”, asked Elyn as she walked over to him. Coming to his senses, Ted blurted, “Let’s head over to that bridge near the lighthouse.” Elyn, confused did not ask any question and followed him.

There were very few lights on the bridge. The eerie red light of the lighthouse and the dark clouds swirling over the sea could send shivers up the spine. Ted went ahead on the bridge. He remembered the place from ten years ago. As he moved forward with uncertain steps and a terrified heart, he saw the same raven-haired girl standing there. The chilling familiarity of the scene to that of his dreams and his memories and the impossibility of the presence of that girl on the bridge shook Ted to his core.

Elyn watched Ted from a distance. The unpleasant atmosphere and Ted’s strange behavior forced her to walk up to Ted and ask “What is going on with you? Why are we here? This isn’t even a tourist spot, man!”

Ted stood there; his eyes stared wonderingly into the abyss like a lingering phantasm of fevered dreams. “Elyn, I can’t stay here any longer. We need to go home right now.” Without explaining further and trembling like a leaf, he rushed back.

 

It was raining heavier than usual. The violent thunderclaps and the occasional streaks of lightning were almost as if a premonition of the events that were to follow. Elyn stood by the window in Ted’s room, watching him stride across, lighting up a third cigarette, pale as death.

“No this can’t be true”, Ted muttered as he paced up and down the room. “It’s just not possible.”

“Ted, sweetheart, why don’t you sit down?” said Elyn worriedly. “This is your third cigarette since we came home.”

“No, you don’t understand. What I saw was…it’s impossible.”

“What did you see so strange? We were together the entire time. I didn’t see anything weird.”

“That girl…that girl on the bridge. She was the same girl. Yes she was her, I am sure of it. But, but how could that be? She was supposed to be

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—”

“Supposed to be what? What nonsense are you spouting? What girl?”

“The girl on the bridge, Elyn. She had black hair. She was standing right there, right there, where ten years ago…”. The memories of the night were still vivid in Ted’s memories. The terror that rested only in his mind until now, which kept lurking the entire time, now took over his entire being.

Elyn looked at Ted scared, calculating her words. She tried to calm him down, “Ted, you are scaring me. There was no girl on the bridge. There was no one at—”

“There was!” barked Ted. “Do you think I am crazy?”

“No Ted, why would I think that? Maybe it was just your imagination that—”

“My imagination? Are you telling me that I am imagining things, things that aren’t real? You think I am crazy?” Ted roared, his voice louder than the thunderclaps outside. The sound of the rain vanished into the background. A sense of paranoia and fear engulfed Ted completely. He felt like he was falling into the dark bottomless pit and there was nothing to hold on to. The time had finally arrived to pay for his mindless drunken revelry, his iniquity, his crime.

Elyn stood there stunned, gritting her teeth. This is not the Ted she knew. Her string of patience finally snapped. “Yes Ted, I think you are crazy”, she yelled. “I think you have finally lost it. Your words make no sense. The bridge was empty. We were together. Nobody else was there, Ted. Not a girl, not a man, nor a ghost, no one!”

“But she was there. I saw her”, Ted yelled back. He wondered if he was really losing his grip on the reality. He saw the girl on the bridge closely. He could not be mistaken. “Or, or maybe you are doing this to me. Are you doing this to me?” he said softly.

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know, maybe it’s all your doing. You were the one who planned this trip; you took me to the same café bar from ten years ago. Maybe this is all you, maybe you know what happened back then, and, and you know what I did…”, said Ted as he turned his back, slowing walking away from Elyn towards the window. The last part of his sentence was overlaid by the sound of the thunder rumbling. The storm outside was incomparable to the violent storm surging in Ted’s mind.

“Ted, I can’t do this. This is insane, this is madness. I cannot believe I did so much for you, for your birthday, only to be yelled at and be a victim of your nonsensical accusations. I am leaving. Goodnight, Ted!”

As Elyn grabbed her things and began to walk out of the room, Ted rushed and grabbed her hand. “Don’t you dare leave without answering my questions. Tell me how is she alive. She died ten years ago. I saw her myself falling off the bridge. Tell me who is she to you. Why are you doing this?”

“I have no idea what are you talking about. Leave my hand, Ted. Let me go!”

Ted’s unwavering grip and his warning glare sneering down his nose churned Elyn’s stomach. She looked around helplessly trying to free herself. Never once did she feel disgusted at her powerlessness in her life. She noticed a ceramic vase on a table on her left, the one she always thought stood in the way to the door. A gush of compulsion streamed through her body. She reached her hand out to the vase, picked it up and smashed it hard on his head. Ted screamed, holding his head in his hand. He looked at the shards of the broken vase on the floor. That was all left of his relationship. Elyn hesitated for a moment but upon realizing how dangerous it was for her to be even in a close proximity to Ted, she ran for the stairs.

“Elyn stop!” growled Ted.

She looked back. She looked back one last time to see the man she once loved but no longer recognized. And as she did, she slipped on the marble, hit her head on the handrail and fell down the stairs headfirst. “Elyn!”, shouted Ted as her head slammed on the floor. There was a pool of blood in an instant. Ted rushed down the stairs, stumbling on the rug and held Elyn’s head on his lap. She was not breathing. Ted whimpered, “No, Elyn, no. Wake up. Please wake up, Elyn!”. Ted could feel his world crumble. The spring of his life had suddenly turned into a cold, desolate, lifeless winter. He sat there frozen for hours with Elyn’s head on his lap. His white t-shirt, blood-soaked. The storm outside had subsided. No loud thunderclaps, instead a deafening silence flowed across the room. Ted could hear his heart beating as the silence pierced through his soul.

He muttered, “This is my fault; it is my doing. I am the one who pushed her to her death. I killed her.” He looked at Elyn’s lifeless bloody face and remembered how ten years ago a similar thing had happened. How a drunken Ted had pushed a girl he barely knew off the bridge. “Karma finally came back to bite me.” , he scoffed. “But what’s it got to do with her? Why did she have to die? It should have been me.”, he kept muttering spiritlessly. “No, I have to make this right.”, uttered Ted as he got up, walked to the table by the main door, took the car keys and left, mechanically. It was almost just as if he was a puppet and someone else pulled the strings for him to move. He drove to the police station and went inside in the same lifeless manner.

 “I want to speak to a superior officer”, said Ted to the first officer he came across. The stout, middle-aged officer looked at Ted with his brows furrowed. “Go ahead and then to your right”, he signaled. Ted walked in the direction he was guided. His mind blank and his heart throbbing, he declared, “I want to turn myself in”, as he entered Captain Garner’s office. This seemed to be his only way to atone for what he did, to bring Elyn justice and to expiate for having his hands all soaked in their blood.

The Captain looked up at him, put his file aside and beckoned him to the chair. “What’s your name, sir?”, he asked.

“Ted Rainer.”

“Mr. Rainer, would you mind elaborating as to why do you want to turn yourself in?”

“Because I killed my fiancé.”

“Mr. Rainer, I am going to need a few more details than that to proceed with the investigation.”

Ted recounted the events of the evening to him. Choking on his words, he pointed to his t-shirt and said “This is her blood. I held her head on my lap, called out to her so many times but she didn’t respond.” Captain Garner looked at Ted with a strange expression on his face. He looked at his t-shirt and then at him and asked, “Who is the girl you said you saw on the bridge?”

Ted paused. He could only hear the the clock on the wall ticking and nothing else.

 

On that night ten years back, after having one too many drinks, Ted went out to get some air. He wobbled and stumbled all the way to the bridge by the light house. There was a girl on the bridge, looking over to the sea. She was someone Ted met in the café. Her hair raven black fell on her face as she turned around when she heard Ted stagger on the bridge. “Are you okay?”, she asked as she approached to help him stand straight. Ted looked up. As dark as it was already and his mind blocked from being heavily inebriated, Ted took the girl for his former partner who left him for his best friend. Simmering with anger, he grabbed her by her throat and pushed her against the parapet. The girl struggled as the parapet creaked. Trying to save herself from Ted, she jumped into the water. Splash! Ted heard. Coming to his sense, he realized what he had done. He had just forced a person to throw herself off a bridge. Thinking about the consequences if he were to be found near the crime scene, he fled. He ran all the way to the hotel and thought that if he slept the night, he would wake up to a new morning which would not have any traces of the happenings of the night before. He could not be more wrong.

Sitting in Captain Garner’s office, Ted answered that he barely knew the girl but he was sure she was dead. Suspicious that there was more to the story than Ted was letting on, the Captain asked him for the details of the girl, the date and the place.

“It was 11th of August, 2011, Highcliffe. She had a fair skin and had black hair. She was probably 20 or 21 then. She was around the same height as Elyn, about 5’6”.”, Ted answered.

Captain Garner called Officer Dean to his office, “Dean, will you check if there are any records of death on 11th August, 2011 of a 20-21years old, fair, black-haired girl, probably due to drowning at the Highcliffe.”

The officer nodded.

Garner then turned to Ted, “Mr. Rainer we need to see the crime scene at your house, we can’t just take your word for it and arrest you; we need to investigate the death of your fiancé according to our ways. Can you show me a picture of your fiancé?”

“Uh, I left my phone at the house.”

“Can you then help us sketch her portrait?”

“Yes, I can do that.”

The Captain put Dean in-charge and headed for the crime scene. There were countless strange things which did not make sense for him. He however decided to look into the matters at hand first and then delve deep. The officers arrived at Ted’s house. Seeing the door unlocked, Garner asked his men to secure the perimeter first. He entered into the house and ordered his officers to search for the dead body. Garner was perplexed. Ted’s description of the scene was totally different from that of the reality. There was no body, no pool of blood near the staircase. As much as there was not a single trace of blood in the whole house. The officers could not find any corpse either. Things were steadily coming into light to Captain Garner. He searched Ted’s room and could find only men’s set of clothes. There weren’t any make up on the dressing table either. The house, in fact did not have any evidence of a woman living there at all. He found Ted’s phone on the bed-side table. That was the moment when he went through the pictures on his phone that his hunch was confirmed.

The Captain’s phone rang. It was Officer Dean on the other side. “Captain, there is something you need to know. The record of a girl of 21, fair skinned, black hair, who died on 11st of August, 2011 near Highcliffe is found. It says her body was washed up two days later, that is on 13th and the cause of death was by drowning. Her name was Nely Evans. But Captain…”, Dean hesitated.

“What is it, tell me?”

“The photo of the girl in the files is exactly same as the sketch of the woman Ted Rainer got for us.”

Garner smirked.

“And Captain, he keeps asking for a change of clothes saying that his clothes are stained with blood but, but there isn’t even a speck of dust on them.”, Dean said anxiously.

Garner disconnected the call, and ordered his officers to fall back, “Let’s head back, guys. We won’t find any corpse here.” The officers looked at each other, confused as the Captain rang up Dr. Zoey. “Zoey, I got a case for you. Thought you might be interested”, he said as a complacent smile radiated his face.