Free Writing Fridays #029

Love this idea!!

[my 50 words]
“What?” she said. “You’re not making sense-”
Then the car crossed the Line. The hills vanished. In their place stretched a yawning void. Absolute empty nothingness.
“How do we go there?” she asked.
“Not us,” he said. “It just wants you.”
He pushed her in before she could ask why.

[MY 50 WORDS]
The hills bent towards them before she could respond. The road climbed to vertical and then overhead. The van did not fall.
“You’re scaring me!” she cried, her hair vertical beneath her.
“Good, that means we’ll break out of this loop.”
“wha–?” the sky shattered.
“Welcome back to the beginning.”

(My 50 words)
“Now you’re really scaring me” she said. “If we’re almost there, why not tell me where where is?” “It’s a secret, you’ll know when we get there” he said with a sly devilish grin she couldn’t help but notice!” Watch out, she screamed and before they knew it, kaboom kaboom!

50 words (per google doc word count)
Beyond the hills stretched an abyss. She sensed the emptiness and it made her nervous.He had insisted she take the wheel, despite the cataracts that blinded her. She heard him yawn and without a second thought, she jammed her foot hard on the gas and over the final hill.

[My 50 words]

She looked to him. “Now what?”
“Floor it.”
“Are you sure?”
He nodded.
Ever obedient, she did as was told.
The van picked up speed, then crashed through the invisible wall. Both unharmed, they marveled at the breathtaking view.
“The clouds.” She gasped. “Professor!”
“Yes,” he said. “We found Hyperborea.”

“We’re almost where ?”

“You said we were going somewhere special, this is not !”

“We are, just keep driving – you’ll see…”

She put her foot down, angrily heading towards the shimmering, golden veil, she looked at him, her eyes betraying her fear but certain he wouldn’t betray her….

Or would he?

50 words, straight up, no edit!

[My 50 words]

Her hand trails across the inside of the dusty windshield and she looks down at the grit between her fingertips.
“They know…”
“We’ll be okay—we’re almost at the perimeter—they’re expecting us.”
One of her trembling hands bunches the shirt that covers her protruding stomach.
“They have to know…”

Your 50 plus my 50 result in this:

“Are you sure this is the way? We’re, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere?” she said, gripping the steering wheel of their camper van.

“Would you say we’ve reached the end of the world?”

“You’d have to be blind not to think so!”

He smiled. “We’re almost there then.”

She stared out the windshield, watching the dust blow across the Texas landscape.
“You still haven’t told me what’s out here.”

“See it for yourself.” He got out.

“What is there to see in the dark?” She followed.
“Look up.”
She looked up, awestruck by the bright universe above her.

[My 50 words]

“Where?”
“The end of the world. You know what the wizard said…”
“Oh, cut it out! That wasn’t a wizard!”
“He said, go to the end of the world. Then you’ll find it.”
“Find what?”
“Erm. He didn’t say.”
Both fell silent as they stared at the empty, shifting sands.

[MY 50 WORDS]

They crested the final ridge and looked into the valley. There were trees bleached as bone and a bulbous minaret of sun-baked brick.

“Doesn’t look good,” she said as they slalomed down the track.

“We’ve failed,” he said. A single tear snailed down his cheek.

The well was dry.

My 50 words:
Cresting the ridge of low hills, earth opened before us. Dropping deep and wide, the canyon was long and verdant, where the earth behind us was scorched and barren.
A serpentine silver river snaked the miles of the secret valley. Hawks soared below us.
“The end of the world. Home”

My 50 Words :
His ‘almost there’ totalled exactly 136 minutes last time. Not that she’d been counting. She’d promised herself she’d forget the last time.

Feeling tired, exhausted and at this point done with mundane travel ‘surprises’, she pulled over, with tears rolling down her face.

It was beautiful, but…

“Nearly there, huh?”