Horror Stories

The Old Bridge in the Park

The children in the town of [REDACTED] knew better than to cross the old bridge in the park, especially during the evening hours on foggy nights. Even the grown-ups stayed clear, knowing that those who dared venture out were doomed never to be seen again, and everyone knows grown-ups are usually pretty naïve when it comes to such matters. They had even made an effort to stop people from crossing the bridge by making a gate that closed every day an hour before sundown to block access to the park. The grown-ups seemed so proud of themselves for “protecting the little ones”, and so the children didn’t have the heart to tell them that it was a waste of money better spent buying birthday and Christmas presents. Everyone knew better than to cross that bridge, so there was no reason for a gate at all.

Unfortunately, Eleanor was nobody, and even if she was somebody she was a very stupid little girl.

Born and raised in the next town over, little Eleanor had only recently moved to [REDACTED] when her parents divorced and her father and new stepmother got full custody of her. Though she fancied the idea that she was just too clever to get along with the other children, the opposite was in fact true. She was nearly as ignorant as a grown-up, constantly questioning things and demanding evidence for every trivial truth. Some of the harsher rumors claimed that she didn’t believe in ghosts, aliens, or even the completely inarguable fact that the fourth grade homeroom teacher Mr. Mason was a werewolf-demon hybrid from Heck who worked for the Devil himself. Thus, Eleanor had rightfully replaced “Paste-Eating Patty” as the village idiot in [REDACTED] Elementary School.

Even so, Eleanor was very prideful. No matter how much the other children chastised her for saying silly things like “There’s no such thing as baby biting sewer clowns”, she persisted. It wasn’t long before everyone started avoiding her, fearing that her blatant disrespect of the supernatural made her dangerous and unlucky. At first Eleanor didn’t seem to mind too much, as her vanity deluded her into thinking she was better off alone anyway since apparently she was just sooo much more intelligent than all the other children anyway.

Still, even nobodies get lonely, and so when she heard the other children discussing the matter of the old bridge in the park, she couldn’t help but to butt in.

“Oh come on! How is a bridge going to eat children? It’s just a bunch of stones!”

The children had heard her say many strange things, but now she had gone too far. Even the grown-ups knew how dangerous the old bridge was! A few of the kinder, more patient ones gave Eleanor a pitiful glance, reminding themselves that she didn’t know any better. But while things like Mr. Mason and the sewer clowns were survivable, the old bridge in the park promised at LEAST a bazillion percent chance of never being seen again. Sure the children hated Eleanor, but they wouldn’t wish such a fate upon even the worst of little girls. They begged and pleaded with her to drop the subject as she demanded “proof” and “credible sources of information”; some were valiant enough to promise to invite Eleanor to their birthday parties if she’d only promised never to cross the bridge.

But stubborn little Eleanor wouldn’t listen to reason or bribery. She swore to them that she’d prove that the old bridge was nothing to fear using a hand-me-down video camera she’d received on her ninth birthday.

“Tonight, I’m going to cross the old bridge!” she said, “and then you’ll see how foolish you all are!”

There was no way to stop her from killing herself without putting some effort into trying. Distraught, the sweet and generous children of [REDACTED] decided they’d try and be nice to Eleanor on her last day alive (all except Patty who wasn’t too keen on being the stupidest child in school again) by not stealing the dessert from her lunch and not throwing worms at her during recess.