Photo credit: Nicolas Raymond
She stops before the bridge. Nobody stands guard. Not even a sign. But the law rules as strong here as where the river flows wide.
An invisible line between peoples. Between too-long-lost and not-yet-found.
“At the crossroads, let your heart turn you,” Da used to say. No such free-feeling options here: left or right, one adventure or another. Only forward to likely infamy, or backward to certain shame.
Da would not approve. Yet she cannot navigate his heart’s path.
Betrayal, she now knows, takes as many forms as the honorable dreams that inspire it.
“I’m sorry, Da.”
She steps forward.
Word count: 100. Written for this week’s Friday Fictioneers challenge. Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting! See the original photo prompt below, and click here to see the other stories based on it.
Photo © Adam Ickes
Tales from Eneana 
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Thank you!
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Nice. Very evocative and left me wanting to know what her shame and dreams are.
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Thanks! I was deliberately not making up three pages of backstory on this one (for a change, ha ha) and letting it stay ambiguous. But it occurs to me that having recently watched Richard II (BBC’s Hollow Crown version, in case you’re a fan), I might be a bit influenced by Henry of Bolingbroke returning too early from exile to demand his title.
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I gasped at the end. Good job.
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Ooh, I like that reaction. Thanks for reading!
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Dear Joy,
I love ‘between too-long-lost and not-yet-found.’ Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you, Rochelle, glad you enjoyed it! (That was one of my favorite parts too.)
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She caught in a bad place, I trust that you have a little bit of magic up your sleeve.🙂
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I wish I did! Alas, she’s going to have to get herself out of this one. I’ll be rooting for her though. 😉
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Ooh, etween too-long-lost and not-yet-found. I think that I’ve been there! 😀 Well told, Joy~
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Thank you so much, and thanks for reading!
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My pleasure, Joy. 🙂
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Once you take a definite mental step there’s no going back.
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Agreed — thanks for reading!
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Maybe it just takes one person to take that first step across the invisible line…
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Hm, now you’re making me wonder what exactly crossing that line will mean… But in any case, crossing it will be important for her, and probably for others, if it results in her infamy! Thanks for reading Ali.
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A tough predicament she’s in. A bit like whistleblowers… Great story, Joy.
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Thanks Gabi! Yes, no matter what she’s facing, it clearly has consequences. I figured leaving it vague would help more readers relate it to their own lives.
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“Between too-long-lost and not-yet-found,” I love it. Well done
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Thank you, glad you enjoyed it – and thank you for reading!
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I love this challenge. I am always anxious to see the new picture and enjoy writing as much I as I enjoy reading it.
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It’s a great challenge, I agree. I’m always anxious to see the picture too, to see if it’s something I can in any possible way link to what exists in Eneana — and usually I can do something reasonably close, hooray!
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I could really imagine this piece. Sometimes, we must cross a bridge and go over it in an actual sense, but also metaphorically. This isn’t always what our relatives or friends think we should do, sometimes we must choose and live by our choices. I think in years to come, her Da will understand, this was a bridge she had to cross. Great writing Joy.
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I’m so glad it connected for you, Amanda, thank you for your lovely comment. And yes, our choices are not always what our loved ones would approve of.
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