Silence

Chapter 14

..-. --- --- - .--. .-. .. -. - ...

~~~

Bridgett's POV

A girl with light brown hair jogged down the path, careful to control her breathing. She didn't stop till she reached the halfway point on the walking trail at Robinson Park.

This park was Bridgett Holmes' favorite place in the world. Running here helped clear her head, and she'd found it a good place to think. The only noise was her own footsteps and pounding heartbeat. The peace and quiet soothed her, which was why she rarely listened to music while running.

When she reached the halfway point of the six mile trail, she stopped to rest. She wiped the sweat from her brow and took several deep breaths. In the last four months, she'd come here a lot more often. It was the only place she could get away. Away from everything.

Everything made her think of Willow. Every time she heard a piano play, heard Willow's favorite song, or saw Melody in class, it was like the world was playing a cruel joke, and Bridgett did not think it was funny.

She regretted her fight with Mel every day, but at the same time couldn't stand her. It was like after that day, suddenly everything her best friend did annoyed her to the bone. She had hardly spoken to Melony after that day. It was as if they'd never known each other.

Every time she ran this trail, she tried to distract herself from her troubles. But even here, in this quiet place, she could not escape her own thoughts.

When Melony told her Willow was gone, it was like the world stopped. Her heart sank to her stomach and she felt like her insides her twisting inside her. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, yet it felt like the world was spinning beneath her. She hadn't felt like that since her parents told her and her siblings they were getting divorced.

Her shock had turned to anger, as it often did. In the heat of the moment, Bridgett had turned her anger on Melony, and regretted it almost immediately. Now Melony avoided Bridgett like the plague, and there was nothing Bridgett could do about it.

Then when Mrs. Bates visited her and told her the Justice League had found Willow, and then what they'd rescued her from, Bridgett didn't know how to react. She didn't know whether to cry with relief that Willow was found, anger at what had been done to her friend, grief that her friend may never be the same. Bridgett figured she had cried for all those reasons. Of all the places she'd imagined Willow had gone, this had never crossed her mind.

She wanted to see Willow so bad it hurt. She wanted to run to wherever the Justice League was keeping her and tell her everything she'd never said. Tell her that she regretted not being there, and she'd never had a better friend.

When she felt tears form in her eyes, Bridgett shoved her thoughts far away and kept running. Whenever those thoughts reentered her mind, she made her mind turn to other things, like the book report she had to finish next week, and the cross country meet on Friday.

She ran down the path, making turns and climbing hills, focusing all her energy and thought into keeping her breathing steady and her feet moving. She kept repeating her coach's training tips in her mind.

Eventually, Bridgett made her way back to her silver car. She grabbed her phone. No messages.

Good, she thought as she took a long drink from her water bottle. I don't feel like answering any texts.