The Bridge

(Part Four: Correction)

The drum beat of persecution was raised and Alteration Centers were opened. Anyone who objected to jumping off the bridge was immediately removed from the job pool, denied housing and food assistance, rounded up and sent off to the local camps. There they were either “corrected” or they were disposed of. No dissent could be allowed.

Meanwhile, a change was taking place aided by a great granddaughter of Addie Shrewsberry. She decided that she wanted to experience what her grandmother fought so hard for. The day came for her to fall off the bridge and as she fell she recorded her experience with a smart phone. Halfway through her descent she reported seeing a portal of light open below her. “It’s beautiful,” she said. “I feel as if I am being received by the hand of God himself.” The video went viral.

With those words a new religion was born complete with local shrines, an all female priesthood, offerings to the God of the Void and altars where offerings could be collected. People now began to jump not because it was their right but because it was their religious duty.

During one of these ceremonies the High Priestess of the Void stopped the celebration in progress. She heard the sound of water falling. Wilson’s Silent Falls were no longer silent. For some reason the water in the sinkhole was rising. The sound grew louder everyday. Once the water reached the top the grizzly remains of the “Falling Celebrations” began appearing. The water and its contents spilled over the brim and cut a new stream bed running through a community just two miles from the gorge before merging with another river.

The horror of body parts, clothing, flowers, toys, and personal items which vomited out of the sinkhole so shocked the country that an immediate stop was placed on the celebrations. Quietly, the camps were closed, the laws changed and the platform removed. The country quickly tried to distance itself from what it had allowed.

The Bridge was reopened to traffic and the Shrewsberry Memorial Center was closed. Finally, the platform was removed. Over the place that once served as the entrance to the platform someone placed a sign. It read, “Just because everyone else jumps off a bridge doesn’t mean you have to.”

The End