Friday fun--#Flashfiction, #CCC067

My poet friend Deborah Bacharach (check out her work) suggested yesterday that writing something, anything, was the way to start the new year. I then bethought me of Crimson's Creative Challenge, which I know about because of another writer friend, Jemima Pett, who regularly posts drabbles inspired by the challenge. Time for me to join and get back to writing flash fiction.

For the challenge, Crispina Kemp posts 4 photos each week and you can pick one (or more, presumably) as inspiration for a creative response. This week is challenge #67. Word count is supposed to be capped at 150. 

My choice of image:

A humpback stone bridge with a kiosk and a lot of mist.

 

I liked the image, and it resonated with the way my neighborhood was blanketed in thick fog on NYE when I got home from my hike (which had been out of the fog and in the sun, when not under the trees). 

This was my neighborhood on New Year's Eve. Visibility half a block.

Here's my story, for your amusement this first weekend of 2026.  It's 147 words, just under the limit.

Over the Bridge

Kris stood at the end of the humpback bridge, peering through the mist until their eyes bulged. They couldn’t see anything clearly—only the guard post at the far end. Or was it a gazebo? By the time you got there, you’d be committed, without ever seeing what lay beyond. Maybe home? Maybe a cemetery. It looked a little like a cemetery.

 

It looked a little like a village, too. There were buildings. The one on the left might be a house. Their house?

 

Nothing and no one moved except the mist.

 

They could stay where they were. Stand at the foot of the bridge until someone with more courage came along and crossed. Then they’d know, maybe.

 

That was a coward’s trick. They wouldn’t be that person. Kris set one trembling foot on the bridge. Then another. Things would be clear once they were across, right?

 

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 ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2026 

As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated.


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