Weekly Writing Challenge – Cliffhanger

The Weekly Writing Challenge gives this instruction for the Cliffhanger writing challenge: For this week’s challenge, write a post that will leave readers waiting for more. Breathless with anticipation. On the edges of the seats. Obsessively clicking “refresh,” waiting impatiently for the end of the story. We want to hear audible groans when readers reach the end of your post and see “To be continued…”

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Kerri Wells sat in her blue Mazda CX-3 drumming her fingers on the steering wheel as she impatiently waited for the traffic to move. She looked at the clock on her media system display and saw that two more minutes had slipped by. She had twenty-seven minutes until Jase’s flight left the airport and she wasn’t a bit closer. She grabbed her phone again and looked at the display, but it still had a heart where the battery meter should be, meaning it was dead.

How could she get word to him? Why had she been so stubborn? All he wanted was for her to commit to him and let him love her. But she wouldn’t let that happen, she couldn’t not after what happened before. Jase had promised to take her away from her life here, to change the future and he didn’t. She was attacked and nearly raped by one of his supposed good friends who was “looking out for her” while he was in Iraq.

Now he was back for good and wanted her to leave everything and follow him to a new posting in Texas. It was nine hours from her home and she knew nobody. Why would she do that? She had asked him for a good reason, but all he had come up with was that he loved her. But was that enough? What if he was deployed again? Would another buddy step up in his absence and take advantage of her again?

Then she had the epiphany. Just after five in the morning she woke and realized he was right for her and the only one she could ever love the way she did. She realized she could not blame him for his friend’s indiscretion. She understood how powerful his offer to begin again truly was. Since then she had fought to get through town and to the airport before his flight. Why was there so much traffic this morning?

She looked over at the river channel and noticed a string of tankers and barges working their way toward the port. She had twenty –three minutes now and she was barely a mile closer. When those ships and barges got close the drawbridge designed route over the river channel would open and traffic would sit for another half hour. She drummed the steering wheel harder as she looked for an alternative.

Jerking the gear shift from Park into Drive, she punched the accelerator and zoomed out into the opposite lane to try to get in front of other cars closer to the bridge opening. Blaring horns, shouts of annoyance and single finger salutes met her as she continued in the wrong lane. She could see the safety gates being to lower and punched her accelerator harder. Even as she accelerated she could feel the bridge begin to lift. She had no alternative but to punch the gas to the floor. She had thoughts of jumping the gap, but instead her car came to a rest with the front bumper on one side of the opening and the rear resting on the other. The bridge operator stopped the bridge as soon as he saw her approach the opening, but was it soon enough?

To be continued . . .

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I want to point you flash fiction writers to another option. It is Flash in the Pan, where you write short fiction 50-150 words respectively to words chosen and posted each week. 250 responses will be collected and published by Redmund Productions. You can check the details at the following link: Flash in the Pan.

See more of the Weekly Writing Challenge – Cliffhanger responses:

1. Almost, but not quite… | The Ghostly Writer
2. Classic Lasagne! | Miss Spicy Hat N’ Sugar Socks
3. You Never Can Tell…Part 2 | Babbleogue
4. Orion 83 – Part 3 – The Hole | L5GN
5. The Red Letter | Shadows Of The Divine
6. Ojhri Camp disaster (Part 2) | A mom’s blog
7. I worry | Better Than Reality
8. Make me famous on TV (Part 2) | My Outlook on the World
9. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger! Part 2 | imagination
10. As I Sat on the Bus # 31: Roxanne is presented with a Unique Opportunity | The Day After
11. A Tale of Terror: Part 1 | theauthorwhoknows
12. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger! – Oh, Crap | 아토 (Ato)
13. Short Story: The Missing Boy (Conclusion) « Mama Bear Musings
14. The Stalker | In my world
15. DP Weekly writing challenge: Cliffhanger | Sabethville
16. A Museum Trip and an Unexpected Find | Incessantly Inspired
17. Cliffhanger – Part 1 (DP Challenge) | Stories From My Mind
18. Memoir of the Forgetful (A Web Series) #1 | ❤ ART BLOG
19. The government owes me money!! « Every day adventures in Asia (mostly)
20. Some Soldiers Are Children | Daughters of the Covenant
21. Running Away from Needed Help: Part 2 – DP Challenge: Cliffhanger | Rose with Thorns
22. Chapter 5 – January 1D | Keigh Ahr
23. Love or Loss? | ladydibsalot
24. My dearest bundle part 2 | From One Crazy Life To Another
25. A Small Story | Home that We Built
26. A Small Story – the Ending | Home that We Built
27. Once in Cozumel | Connie’s World
28. Italian Dinner for St. Patrick’s – Part 30 of the HaM – Homey and Me – Love Story | That Good Part
29. Gert Smit’s Tomatoes (# 7) | Rolbos ©
30. Cliffhanger-Part 2 | Life Of A Book Lover
31. Proud Prey (Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger!) | Simply Silent
32. Proud Prey Part 1 (Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger!) | Simply Silent
33. {Weekly Writing Challenge} Parenting as a Cliffhanger… | 3rdculturechildren
34. Travel | Slow, Nature, Sea, Sun, Porches, Sand, Natural Light…. | Introvertly Bubbly
35. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger | We Saw the Flags of our Fathers Hoisted on Banners Above our Heads (Part 1 of 2) | Gradual Thought
36. “Helllllp! It’s COLD in Here!” | Zeebra Designs & Destinations
37. It’s a Cliffhanger, Alright… | superpsychotic1990
38. Dear Diary | The Gaia Experience
39. Vendetta on the Mountain: the gripping conclusion. | Wah Wah Zine
40. WEEKLY WRITING CHALLENGE: CLIFFHANGER | DANDELION’S DEN
41. Meet My Friend, Mr. Cliff Hanger | Leigh’s Wordsmithery
42. Worry No More | Better Than Reality
43. Meet Me Halfway: the Epic Saga of Zero to Hero Day Six, Part One | Rose B Fischer
44. Falling behind already | Fonts and Frosting
45. What Am I? We are The Fallen | The Backwords
46. It was a White Night—Part I | Lucky Here Now
47. Trapped | The Understreets
48. Escape (Trapped, Part 2) | The Understreets
49. The zzzzzzing closet – continued | Stories from aside
50. Ten Years Later…The Conclusion | Creative Mysteries
51. The Literal Cliffhanger | Shakespeare’s Sugar Spun Sister
52. The To Be Continued… of Falling in Love | An Upturned Soul
53. A Francis Fairy Tale – Part 1 | A Maniac’s Menagerie of Motley Thoughts
54. Proud Prey Part 2 (Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger!) | Simply Silent
55. Light Me Up | From Wentz It Came
56. Lasagna Recipe Updated Now | Miss Spicy Hat N’ Sugar Socks
57. Cliffhangers | Silent Soliloquy
58. Writing Challenge, Cliffhanger Second half | inkbloodpoetry
59. THE CLASH OF TWO CHALLENGES | Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner
60. Meet Me Halfway: The Epic Saga of Zero to Hero Day Six, Part Two | Rose B Fischer
61. Ignited | From Wentz It Came
62. Cliffhanger | Buzzy Beez Giftz
63. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger | We Saw the Flags of our Fathers Hoisted on Banners Above our Heads (Part 2 of 2) | Gradual Thought
64. Close Encounters: Part 1 | MightWar
65. A Visit to the Doctor’s Office | Just Life
66. Weekly Writing Challenge ‘Cliffhanger’: Young Silence | Thoughts of an INFP
67. Showdown – Part Two | Perceptive Pot Clueless Kettle
68. Pale Blue Warning – Short Story Part One | FortyOneTeen
69. In The Middle of The Night (Part 1) | Ornella’s Two Cents
70. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger | thejimmieG
71. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger Part 2 | Reflections and Nightmares- Irene A Waters (writer and memoirist)
72. Walking Home In The Dark | Polymathically
73. Hidden Word poem ANSWER | writemybrainsout
74. Orion 83 – Part 4 – The Light | L5GN
75. You can’t make this stuff up! – Part 1 | Magnet for Foolishness®
76. The Colours of a Day | A Room of One’s Own
77. Perspective from the 33rd Floor: Part One | Don’t Jerk Off To This!
78. The One with the Goddess Pele, Part 2 | Jackie Cangro
79. Mother, part 2 | Who Would Have Guessed
80. Mother, part 1 | Who Would Have Guessed
81. her call | Little Cubicle
82. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger! (part 2) | In my world
83. 12 1/2 Clichés I Want My Kids to Live By | The Human Rights Warrior
84. The Job Interview at a Starbucks | The Libra Chronicles
85. Close Encounters: Part 2 | MightWar
86. A Visit to the Doctor’s Office (Part 2) | Just Life
87. Quick Fiction #2: Bloody Ever After | Writing After Dark
88. Destiny | A Parents’ guide to movies and games because we’re all newbs and can do with some help
89. Cliffhanger: Remembering a Night of Regret (Continued) | mytakemythoughts
90. The ending of 4am madness | Life of A Fallen Angel
91. At Wit’s End | In So Many Words
92. Cliffhanger! Part 3: Return to Space Academy | Musings of a Soul Eclectic
93. The Bitts | Billyboyblog
94. That time we lived next door to a murderer, 1982 Part 1 | Jaye’s Brain
95. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger | br4ceyourself
96. Weekly Writing Challenge ‘Cliffhanger’: Young Silence (Part Two) | Thoughts of an INFP
97. That time we lived next door to a murderer, Part II (Conclusion) | jayesbrain.wordpress.com
98. Cliffhanger – Embracing the Challenge | Sleeping Geeks
99. First writing challenge – Indigo Gym | It is not the critic who counts….
100. Walking Home In The Dark: Part 2 | Polymathically
101. Coming Out To My Sister | Basically Beyond Basic
102. A dark act | MC’s Whispers
103. A Lethal Clue | MC’s Whispers
104. An unexpected awakening | MC’s Whispers
105. Weekly Writing Challenge-Cliffhanger | A Veil of Enlightenment!
106. Too Damaged | donnainrecovery
107. Music Reviews Insult My Intelligence | Bumblepuppies
108. B.O.G.O. Blog Post!! | The Fiction of Michael R. Wilson
109. Big Shot Jerk Face (or, how I met my husband) | East Meets Breast
110. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger! | Finding Life
111. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger | The Uncustomary Housewife
112. Cliffhanger/Weekly Writing Challenge | I’m a Writer, Yes I Am
113. Weekly Writing Challenge | girlinaland
114. What Am I? | The Backwords
115. The Daily Post Zero To Hero Challenge that is Simply the BEST Cliffhanger | The
116. Playground
117. First Time Out | Fish Of Gold
118. Words Give Me Wings | Finale to an Entrance
119. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger! | diamondroseranchmn
120. My dearest bundle | From One Crazy Life To Another
121. Life Of A Book Lover
122. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger! | Dear Blog ’14
123. Broken Promises Insult My Intelligence | Bumblepuppies
124. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger! | imagination
125. Cliffhanger Part 1: Disaster In Space | Musings of a Soul Eclectic
126. You Never Can Tell… | Babbleogue
127. Cliffhanger challenge | Passionate Dreaming
128. Seeking the Star | Leonas Lines–Poetry Plus
129. 2000 Words Worth of Pictures… (Part 1) | The Armchair Socialite
130. 2000 Words Worth of Pictures…(Part 2) | The Armchair Socialite
131. Resistance is Futile, Time for a Change | Mary J Melange
132. i made it | Musings of a Random Mind
133. Finding “The Light” | Leonas Lines–Poetry Plus
134. A Night at the Club | Graced Images
135. The One with the Goddess Pele | Jackie Cangro
136. The Raven’s Omen | The Crone’s Apprentice
137. Weekly writing challenge: Cliffhanger | La chica de la burbuja
138. Showdown | Perceptive Pot Clueless Kettle
139. Weekly Writing Challenge – Cliffhanger | Joe’s Musings
140. Cliffhanger | The World Has Room For Improvement
141. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger (Part 1 of 2) | Gradual Thought
142. Where’s The IT Guy? | My Play Nook
143. Cliffhanger writing challenge | lizzyloveslipstick
144. Was it THE cabin? | thewhitewaylifeOn the edge… | A Path of Living Stones
145. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger! | Reflections and Nightmares- Irene A Waters (writer and memoirist)
146. Cliffhanger (1/2) | The Write Might
147. if and when | staying.cool
148. Ojhri Camp disaster (Part 1) | A mom’s blog
149. Cliffhanger, Part Two/Weekly writing challenge | I’m a Writer, Yes I Am
150. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger! | MARGARET ROSE STRINGER
151. life on the edge | wannabepoet
152. Oh boy | sophosfashionoracle
153. Living with Depression & Anxiety – Finding Meaning? | Diary of Secrets
154. The Right in the Wrong | Random Thoughts
155. I finally found Who i was looking For. | A Little Smile Photography
156. one day in paradise (part one) | yoga, mindfulness, greensmoothies & other pastimes
157. Make me famous on TV | My Outlook on the World
158. Running Away from Needed Help – DP Challenge: Cliffhanger | Rose with Thorns
159. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger!-Part 2 | Finding Life
160. Cliffhanger: Remembering a Night of Regret | mytakemythoughts
161. WWC: Cliffhanger – Drunk Calling at its Finest | Just Another Day
162. The Dream | W is for WordPainting
163. Cliffhanger! Part 2: Cold Refuge | Musings of a Soul Eclectic
164. Callista | Sugar n’ Spies
165. Tarot Tuesday: My New Year Spread | Through the Peacock’s Eyes
166. Weekly Writing Challenge – Cliffhanger! | diamondroseranchmn
167. Ten Years Later | Creative Mysteries
168. First Time Out Part 2 | Fish Of Gold
169. I’ll see you in the morning | Fonts and Frosting
170. First Blood: The Dance-off |
171. First Blood: The dance-off (Part 2) |
172. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger nomore … Day 7 | Dear Blog ’14
173. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger « Mama Bear Musings
174. The pressure to succeed | ladysmartypants
175. ‘You know what you did’ and other 4am madness | Life of A Fallen Angel
176. Weekly Writing Challenge: Cliffhanger (Part 2 of 2) | Gradual Thought
177. Cliffhanger: Red bricks | Variabila nedefinită
178. Smells Like Tween Spirit – Part 1 (Cliffhanger Challenge) | Cabin Pressure May Change
179. Gert Smit’s Tomatoes (# 6) | Rolbos ©
180. The Boatman | Simply Miko
181. The zzzzzzing closet | Stories from aside
182. Ms. Delaney, Private Eye: Case Code; Deep Freeze14 | Daily Observations
183. “Helllllp! Get Me Out of Here!” | Zeebra Designs & Destinations
184. David’s Birthday DPChallenge Cliffhanger | Angela McCauley
185. Daily Prompt: Mr. Biv Comes to Town | One Starving Activist
186. DP Challenge – Part 1 | hometogo232
187. Hidden word poem | writemybrainsout
188. The Soup Story | So Not Simple
189. The Raven’s Omen – Part 2 | The Crone’s Apprentice
190. Vendetta on the Mountain | Wah Wah Zine
191. Bible Trivia: 1-7-14 | Proverbs 31 Teen
192. Weekly Writing Challenge: Roy G. Biv | Making Life an Art
193. My Meh 2013 According to Facebook – part 1 | Awkward Laughter
194. My Meh 2013 According to Facebook – part 2 | Awkward Laughter
195. Chapter 5 – January 1C | Keigh Ahr
196. Monster in the Dark: Pt 1 of 3 | Ripples of Truth
197. The Worst Day of My Entire Life | The Girl Who Never Stopped Dreaming
198. Suicide no. 19: Would You? | derekalanwilkinson
199. A Day At The Bank « Christopher’s Cave…
200. Daily Post: Roy G. Biv | Making Life an Art