Jane is halfway across the bridge when the panic hits. Suddenly she is gasping, hot, her hands clammy and her mouth dry. She barely catches herself from bolting backward, right into rush-hour traffic. She clutches at the fencing with one sweaty hand, her eyes drawn over the edge.
Why not? How long can she keep trying, keep losing? The open air calls beyond the chain-link mesh, beckoning to the water far below. It would be hard, and it would be cold, and then it wouldn’t. And for a few seconds, she would be flying.
Would it be so bad?
This week’s flash fiction challenge prompt at the Ranch: “In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that goes to the edge. Consider what the edge might be and how it informs the story. Go where the prompt leads.”
99 Monkeys 
I could just say “Wow!” and be done but I thought this was a pretty amazing flash on a couple of different levels and I’m guessing one that was maybe either difficult to write or to post.
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Don’t do it Jane. There’s another flash coming soon, and I want to keep up with your story, so don’t do it Jane.
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Jane has been through so much and like many who are homeless, it’s like living in a world that is visible to everything you can’t have — drinking water, safe bed, shelter, toilet, a place to unwind — and yet you remain invisible to those who take such luxuries for granted. But our Jane is strong. She’ll imagine, maybe even want the respite, but she’ll cross that bridge. She has a big story to tell the visible world.
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The terrible allure of high places, only stopped by an imagining of painful events if one follows through.
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