It’s time for Friday Fictioneers. Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting this challenge each and every week. She keeps us all on track. The challenge is to write a 100-word story based on a photo prompt.
Thanks to The Reclining Gentleman for contributing the lovely photo.
If you’d like to join in on this challenge, all our welcome. And now, for my offering.
Genre: Speculative Fiction (100 words)
Detour
“It looks like the same detour.”
By the fourth go-around, they were positive.
“We’re looping.”
Almost out of gas, Tom and Daniel considered their options. They could follow another car. Walk, although they’d never make their flight. Hitchhike?
“Ridiculous! All we need is a left turn.”
Daniel pointed at the GPS. “There.”
“Dude, that’s off the bridge.”
Tom sped faster trying to get off the bridge. “GPS is unreliable.”
“We have no choice,” Daniel said, with a helping hand on the wheel.
************
What appeared a suicide mission has turned up the vehicle, but there’s been no trace of any passengers.
************
For more entries for this prompt, click here.
Oopsie! Maybe they made their “flight” after all! 😉
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Yeah, right! Just not the kind of flight they expected. 🙂
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it was a flight of fancy alright. 🙂
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I hope they’re okay, Plaridel. Thanks!
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The right turn might have been right in the end.. we will never know..
I think you might have missed a need in “All we is a left turn”
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Possibly, the only way was the right way.
Oh, thank you! I’ll fix.
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My favorite one so far. So mysterious in so few words.
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Thanks so much, Diane. Glad you enjoyed it!
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Disturbing and unexpected! Great job, Amy. Happy weekend!
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I can’t wish for more than that! Thank you, Brigitte. I hope you have a great weekend, too. Happy Fall!
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Oooooo did they make it? Was it planned, very mysterious, I hope they survived
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Very mysterious, indeed! No, unplanned, unplanned, Solo. I just thought the idea of an unending detour could be quite maddening. You know the kind I’m talking about? And just what if….there was a bridge.
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Oh yes, this I can totally understand! Especially if it is round! And four times! Ouch
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And more. Until they were almost out of gas!
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Stuck in the groove, repeating the same over and over… sometimes you just have to give it a nudge! Fun stuff
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A nudge over the edge! I hope they’re in a better place that doesn’t require cars. 🙂
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I think they’re probably up in the clouds by now. What a different take on the prompt Amy. 🙂
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Could be, Sandra. I hope somewhere soft and fluffy. Thank you. 🙂
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If only these little GPS mishaps were purely fiction. I tried following a car after being directed off the main road due to a diversion once. It did not go well.
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Uh oh, Ali! I hope it didn’t send you over a bridge. I don’t like those detours that go on and on, either. They’re so inconvenient, aren’t they?
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I didn’t know the road and decided to follow another car hoping it knew where it was going. It did know! Home. His home 😦
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Really clever the way you ended this leaving the reader to imagine. I’m sure they made their destination. 🙂
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Hi, Sarah!! So good to see you. I’ve missed you. I see the water as a portal or something. So, I think they’re okay. Thank you. 🙂
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I hate it when the GPS lies.Well told and mysterious story. Alicia
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Sometimes it really doesn’t have a clue, Alicia. Yet, we follow. I am too dependent on it actually. I don’t know how I ever lived without it!
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Sometimes the GPS has a wicked sense of humor, Amy. Maybe it was intentionally trying to get Tom and Daniel to drive into the drink?
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I agree, the GPS can seem to have its own agenda! Like, where are you taking me? I think you’re on to something. They were strategically maneuvered.
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My friend lives on a farm just south of here and if you follow the GPS directions you end up in the river (where there was once a bridge) and the river is full of crocodiles. I thought of this when I read your story and wondered if Tom and Daniel ended up as dinner! Great story, Amy 😀
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Oh Dianne, that’s hilarious! I had no idea I’d be writing a true story here. Every now and then you got to stop the GPS before things way south and you’re totally lost! And/or catch yourself before you land in a river of crocodiles. Oh no! Thanks, Dianne.:D
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Dear Amy,
It sounds like that they’ve detoured into the Twilight Zone. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I suppose so, Rochelle. Thanks!
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Last time I trusted my Sat Nav, it told me to turn right (north) onto the dual carriageway. I live in the UK! What it meant was turn left (south) and loop around the next roundabout, taking the second on the left, and then travel north.
There are quite a few incidents reported in the Press about people who’ve had all sorts of mishaps due to taking their Sat Nav’s seriously. They’ve even tried to plead in court, when it has led them to commit a traffic offence or cause an accident, that it was the Sat Nav’s fault. That’s rather like blaming a computer for writing and sending a rude email.
Your story says it all! Well done.
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First of all, I love that you call it a Sat Nav! I love that. That’s pretty funny that people try to plead in court with it. Blame it on the Sat Nav. We use the Sat Nav a lot. I usually use Suri on my phone. Usually, she’s pretty good, but we use her a lot when we go out of town for my son’s water polo games. We’d be lost without it! Sometimes, it (she) does get confused. 🙂 And, I find myself getting mad at her. Ha ha. It’s a good thing we still have old fashioned maps! Thanks so much for your lovely comments, Sarah.
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A bit of dark comedy in there, I liked it.
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Thank you, Subroto. Thanks for the encouragement. 🙂
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When I was a teen I got “stuck” on the Beltway trying to find my exit. It wasn’t until years later that I learned why they call it a BELTway.
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Oh no, Dawn, to get stuck on the beltway! I’ve never had that experience! I could have very well called my piece “The Beltway.” I only thought of a detour since it was in another country. The Beltway idea would have worked well here. Thanks for sharing.
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Make your own road?
Good piece Amy.
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Right. Thanks, Mick.
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I can understand being stuck going round and round never being able to get off and when successful where to. No petrol would make it that much worse but may bring someone who could then help them. Their flight may be of an unexpected kind.
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Irene, thanks for your thoughtful comments on my story. I was trying to show a worsening state of affairs, but don’t know if I succeeded with the short space. I wanted things to seem pretty dire to drive off the edge! Their flight was unplanned and yes, who knows what lays ahead for them. Thanks so much!
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I can go round and round in circles without a GPS helping me at all. I like the mystery in this. I think they’re in real trouble.
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Me too, Margaret. I think it’s funny if you take an alternative route from the GPS. I think I detect it being a little irritated. 🙂 I’m sure it’s in my mind or is it? I think their lives have been turned upside down. Thanks for your lovely comments.
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Hmm, very intriguing, Amy. This is my kind of odd, mysterious story. 🙂
-David
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Thank you, David. Glad you liked it. 🙂
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Oh man. GPS, eh?
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Tough situation, huh? Do you call it Sat Nav, too?
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Good story, Amy. Creepy.
Sounds like an evil spirit in the GPS. Either that, or they both fell asleep and made the turn in their sleep. Quite a mystery with no bodies. Well done. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Thanks, Suzanne. I’m glad you enjoyed it. I suppose I didn’t need the bodies to disappear…then this could very well have been a comedy, so long as no dies! I usually laugh at my GPS. It’s not very smart sometimes. 🙂
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I know people who won’t deviate from the GPS at all. Oh dear…
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Sometimes I get that way and I must stop myself! Oh dear is right.
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My GPS takes me out of the way, I’m sure, but I’ve stayed on the bridge (and in the tunnel) so far. Good one, Amy.
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Whew! Use the GPS with caution and don’t go falling off the bridge, Mark. Hey, thanks for reading all my posts. I appreciate it! 🙂
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I enjoy my catch-up session with your world very much, Amy. 😉
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Smiles. Thanks!
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Those detours can keep you going in circles until the end of time…or until you make a left.
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So true about detours. Sometimes you have to go off the detoured path! Thanks, Michelle!
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