The Bridge

      Today, I went for a walk. I like to walk when the sky is grey and there are little to no people around. It allows me to think clearly. I didn't originally plan on going on a walk. A friend of my sisters was at our house, and they wanted to go outside. I went to. Outside felt so.. Fresh. My mind flew through the wind, brushing my hair into my face. I couldn't think straight. All of my thoughts were flooding to my mind and I was on autopilot. When they walked back inside, I said I was going to stay out a little longer. I walked onto the small jungle gym and stood. I looked out at the apartment buildings in front of me, but I didn't see apartments. I saw land. Grass blowing in the breeze. I stood and stared past all of the buildings until I felt a col tear fall down my cheek. My attention dove to the tear, curious of the occasion. I jumped of the jungle gym and starting walking.
      I wasn't really sure of where I was walking to. I wasn't even sure if I truly had a destination in the first place. It was as though I was trying to use walking to escape. As though it would detach my body and soul, and allow me to be free. I was sadly mistaken. I walked out of the apartment complex through a patch of damp grass, not caring if my shoes got wet from the moist Earth below me. Once I reached the side walk, I turned. I walked down the long side walk connected to the middle school block. It was well over three blocks long, but only separated once by the bus driveway for drop off and pick up during school hours. As I passed the fence, I saw many dandelions. Normally, I wouldn't even bother to notice them, but today was different. I wasn't walking to reach a destination. I was walking to think. That is just what I did.
      I thought about the past events and memories that made me sad, being abandoned by the things I love most. The thoughts began to overwhelm my mind when I stopped. I was about have way down the sidewalk when I felt something in my black flats. I stepped out of my shoes and picked them up. The cement below my feet was cool and damp. I liked the feeling. I continued to walk until I reached the end of the side walk. I could turn left of right. Left lead to the front door of the middle school. Right lead to a bridge. I loved that bridge. I turned right.
      The bridge is some where I go when I want to think. It was a bridge meant for cars to drive over the busy highway below, but it also had a pedestrian bridge attached to it. To get there, I would have to walk a block and a half from were I was. Past ten houses. Cross one street. Some how, it all felt so far away, and yet so close. I could feel it pulling me towards it.
      When I was five houses down, a car was pulling out of the drive way. I paused one house down so I wouldn't be suspected as an odd person, though I could feel them looking at me. Judging my decision to wear the clothes I did, and walking around barefoot on the sidewalk. After they had backed out completely, I began walking again, but this time with a quicker pace. The faster I got to the bridge, the more time I would have to stay.
      After crossing the street, the sidewalk got wider. It was smoother and the surface was colder than the previous sidewalk. I felt the newness of it all. Finally, after walking up the hill, I came across the metal bar, surrounded by a thing layer of black asphalt, separating the sidewalk from the bridge. I stepped across it as the wind began to pick up, brushing my bangs away from my face. I felt free up there. I wanted to stand there forever, feeling the cool breeze brush against my face. I left though. I had to go home, but as I was walking away, it felt as though I left all of my burdens on that bridge, and I was free... At least for today.