bridge to terabithia
...scared. Jess knows Leslie wants to go to terabithia but it had been raining for a week ,and with each day that it rains the creek gets higher .Jess's fear mounts, until he ends up lying awake at nights worrying about it. He doesn't feel that he can tell Leslie of his fears, but each day it gets harder and harder for him to swing across the creek. "I know Leslie. I know she's not going to bite my head off or make fun of me if I say I don't want to go over again till the creek's down. All I gotta do is say 'Leslie, I don't wanta go over there today.' Just like that. Easy as pie. 'Leslie, I don't wanta go over there today.' 'How come?' 'How come. Because, because, well because.” In the above quotation, he recognizes that not telling Leslie of his fears is completely silly, and that Leslie will understand. However, he is so ashamed of his fear that he cannot bring himself to speak. He sees fear as something totally shameful, a betrayal of the strong king of Terabithia who is his alter ego. This disgust with himself for his fears torments him through most of the novel. At the end o...