Cliffhanger part 7

"Cut!" the director yelled.
She'd deviated from the planned route again and the continuity was going to be completely off.
What did it matter anyway? He knew this film was shit. So shit that it wouldn't even go straight to DVD. Nobody would ever watch it, it was so shit.
He was lucky he ws getting paid, but then that wasn't certain either. Maybe the cheque would bounce?
He left the set, bewildered actors and crew watching him depart.

Cliffhanger part 6

She got to her feet and ran, a ringing in her ears following the explosion.
The sirens were getting closer.
She made it back to the road and saw the police approaching near to where her daughter was in the buggy.
She was done for.
She started to run in the opposite direction, but there was another police car coming that way.
She ran towards the sea. She was going to have to swim for it.
The man was on the rocks about twenty feet from the car, barely alive.

Cliffhanger part 5

Hs relief was short-lived as he watched the woman pull a bottle from her backpack and begin pouring liquid over the vehicle.
He recognised the pungent aroma of petrol and he knew he wasn't safe yet.
He struggled with the door as he watched her fish a box of matches from her pocket and strike one.
The door flew open and he rolled out just as his car was engulfed in flames.
The woman turned to run.
The car exploded, knocking her flat to the ground.
Sirens could be heard in the distance.

Cliffhanger part 4

The car slid slowly backwards.
He pleaded with her not to do it. He started to cry.
He braced himself as best he could for the feeling of weightlessness and the inevitable pain as the car was crushed on the rocks.
It didn't come.
There was a slight bump and the car stopped moving.
The woman laughed.
He looked out of the window.
The back end of the car was resting on rocks, rocks which were barely two feet below the top of what he thought was a very high cliff.
"Let this be a lesson to you," said the woman.

Cliffhanger part 3

The woman who he'd swerved to avoid which started the chain of events leading to where he currently found himself was walking towards him across the grass. She was walking like she had all the time in the world.
"Get more help!" he shouted through the window.
She continued to walk slowly towards him and eventually arrived.
She grabbed the front bumper and smiled.
He was saved.
He thought.
She lifted the car up, surprisingly him with both her strength and action.
"You nearly hit me and my baby!" she screamed.
"No, please!" he pleaded, but it was too late.
The car began to slide backwards.

Cliffhanger part 2

He opened his door and glanced at the ground. Or lack of it.
There was just under half of the vehicle over actual land. The rest was suspended above the rocks and the crashing sea below.
He knew it would be foolish to try and get out as his weight was probably the only thing stopping the car and himself plummeting to their respective demises.
He needed help. Why was nobody helping him? It was the middle of the day. Surely someone had seen what happened?
He leaned on the horn and flashed the lights. He opened his window and screamed for help. Someone had to come soon.

Cliffhanger part 1

The car skidded across the grass. He really wished he hadn't swerved to avoid the mother with the pushchair and crashed through the cliff-top fence at high speed, but it was a bit late now.
He pumped the brakes, but it was like peeing in the North Sea, the same sea he was currently sliding towards.
He pulled the handbrake and sent the car into a spin. He saw sea, then grass, then sea. He felt dizzy.
The car came to rest and he could feel the back of it hanging over the cliff, the front end lifting from the ground ever so slightly.

Movie Night

They stood in the line outside the cinema; they'd done this every Monday night since they'd met five years ago.
In that time they'd seen some wonderful and some dire cinematic offerings. Tonight's was sure to fit into the latter category. It was an animated film based on popular plastic bricks which kids build stuff from.
How can you make a film about that? he thought. Whatever next, Meccano: The Movie?
The queue began to slowly enter the building.
He hoped his popcorn would be spiked with cyanide.

Yes

The open-air wedding was a great idea. It was a warm day with a little breeze. Perfect conditions.
"And do you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, till death do you part?"
The groom said nothing.
"Well, do you?"
Still he said nothing.
Blood ran from his temple and he collapsed like a sack of shit, the sack being expensive and rented.
The bride screamed.
Across the street a man on a roof disassembled and packed up his work tools.

Rain

It had rained for ten days straight without a break.
He looked out of the kitchen window at the huge boat he'd been constructing before it started. It was sitting in at least three feet of water now.
It was time to use it, he thought.
His friends had mocked him, calling it The Ark, but he would have the last laugh.
He had his emergency supplies packed and ready to go and the only animal that would be stepping aboard The Ark with him would be his cat, Percy.
He opened the back door, water dribbling on to the lino from between the sandbags piled against it.
He grabbed his pack and the cat and stepped over the sandbags to begin wading towards the boat.
The rain stopped and the sun shone brightly as he climbed into The Ark.
He set sail to who knows where and managed to travel all of eight feet before The Ark wedged itself between the apple tree and the fence.

Play

She pressed play and the music started. It was her favourite song and never failed to cheer her up.
She smiled and tapped her foot and hummed along.
When the song was finished it began playing again. Was it slightly louder this time? She wasn't sure.
It ended and replayed once more. It was definitely louder. She was still enjoying it though.
After six plays it was playing again at a volume that might annoy the neighbours.
She pressed pause. Nothing happened.
She pressed stop. Nothing happened.
She pressed the on/off button. Nothing happened.
She pulled the plug out of the wall. It still played.
By now it was deafening and she had to leave the room.
The roar of music forced the glass of the windows into the garden and a car alarm began screaming.
She found the fusebox and turned her electricity off completely.
The music still played.

Answer

"Yes."
"Really, it's that simple?"
He walked off, unsure as to how it was all going to go.

Photo

He looked at the old photograph.
He was a teenager then and he was standing outside a building with three other boys who were obviously his friends.
It was thirty years ago and he couldn't remember the names of the others or where the picture was taken.
He put down the photograph, not even sure why he'd kept it.

Late

"What time is it?"
He'd woken up and it was much lighter than he expected it to be.
"Shit!"
He looked at the alarm clock, which he must have turned off in his sleep again, displaying digits far too high for his liking.
He leapt out of bed, straight into yesterday's clothes and bypassed breakfast.

Amnesia

She woke up without a clue as to where she was or how she'd got there.
She climbed out of the bed she had apparently slept in and searched for clues.
It looked like a hotel room and she was there alone, but nothing seemed familiar about the clothes and possessions that were scattered around the room.
She pulled open the curtains and gasped.
The view over the city of Paris was breathtaking.
She had no idea how she'd got there though.

Brief

He had the plan, but he wasn't sure he could execute it.
He looked out across the field and imagined what it would look like when he eventually completed it.
He smiled.

Par

He was playing the round of his life and the little bit of rain that had all the others running for the clubhouse wasn't about to stop him.
There were five holes left to play and the rain started to get heavier.
Thunder rumbled as he teed off, watching his ball plop down on the green 250 yards away. One easy putt and he was well on his way to the club record.
He arrived at the green soaked to the skin, putted the ball into the hole and raised his club in celebration.
The lightning started right as he raised the club.
The record would be safe today.

Snippet

"And then she told me to go to the back door and ask for Geoff."
"What happened then?"
"He was there and he looked shifty. I gave him the money, he handed me the brown bag and I put it in my inside pocket."
"Were you nervous?"
"Yeah. I'd never done anything like that before. Is it illegal? I don't know, but the adrenaline was really flowing."
"And was it the real stuff?"
"I'm no expert, but she said so. She put it with her collection on the mantelpiece."

Pause

It was a completely ordinary day, dull in its ordinariness.
Jake walked through the town centre on his way to the bus to go to work.
There was a loud, high-pitched noie which caused him to cover his ears. It persisted and he called out in pain, his face contorted in agony and his eyes tight shut.
The noise stopped.
Jake opened his eyes and removed his hands from his ears. There was a slight ringing still, but he hoped that would subside.
Everyone around him stood dead still as if frozen or petrified.
A still bird fell from the sky and landed next to him.

Cars

The scrapyard was full of vehicles. They were lined up in rows throughout the huge lot and they were stacked on top of each other, three high.
There was seemingly no system to the way they had been placed and the man wandered around, looking for the right make and model with the correct kind of wing mirror he needed.
After half an hour he thought he saw what he was looking for. A car at the top of a pile seemed to fit the bill.
He climbed up to take a look.
As he looked at the mirror a man inside the car peered out at him.
This was unexpected to say the least and the man who needed the mirror slipped and fell between the stacks of cars, knocking himself unconscious in the process.

The Guy

He stood there in his dark overcoat and hat. The rain lashed down and he didn't flinch.
His face gave nothing away and he was an intimidating figure, that's for sure.
The bus arrived and he got on.

Mistake

The design had been submitted and all the signs and posters were made. Now they sat in a meeting room wondering what to do.
"Nobody will notice."
Of course they would. No one responded to this.
The director had his head in his hands, wondering how they'd managed to blow the £20,000 marketing budget and end up with the wrong 'your' all over their promotional material.

Permission

"Can I?"
"No."
"Please!"
"Still no."
"You're so unfair."
She stormed off and went and did it anyway. She wasn't her real mum and she couldn't stop her.

Toilet

There was nothing quite like starting the day sitting on the toilet, the day's first movement helped along by the coffee and cigarettes he had in there with him and the paper he had to read while it took place.
It was so relaxing.
The other shoppers in IKEA who walked past the display bathroom didn't agree.

Directions

"Excuse me, can you tell me the way to the museum?" he asked.
He wasn't asking anyone in particular, he just hoped one of the many people on the street could help him. He'd got a map, but in the absence of any kind of YOU ARE HERE reference point it was useless.
Everyone on the street ignored him.
I might as well be speaking a foreign language, he thought.
And he was, that was the problem. Parisians were unlikely to help an angry-sounding Glaswegian who spoke a variety of English none of them had ever heard.

Spray

Fresh from the shower, he reached for the can of deodorant. He shook it, not sure why, but he always did it. There wasn't much left in the can.
He made a mental note to buy a new one while he was in town.
He sprayed a little under each armpit and experienced a slight burning sensation. The slight sensation became stronger and soon it was unbearable.
He screamed as he jumped back in the shower, desperate to wash off the irritant.
In the kitchen his wife was about to clean the oven and opened the cleaning cupboard. She was certain there was a can of oven cleaner that was almost empty, but she couldn't find it. And why was there a can of Lynx Africa in there?

Post

It didn't arrive as early as it once did and this frustrated her. She was waiting for an important delivery and she was growing impatient.
At about 10:30 she heard the sound of the front gate being opened and ran to the door to greet the postman.
He fed the day's mail through the letterbox as she eagerly awaited the receipt of that thing she'd ordered on the other side.
A thick bundle slapped on to the door mat and she knelt down to pick it up.
Advert, advert, advert, advert. They were all advertising flyers. Where was the real mail?
The thing she'd ordered sat in its envelope in a sorting office in the next town, delayed for no actual reason.

Punchline

"...so then the priest turned around and said 'that's not one of the Commandments'."
They all laughed at the greatest joke they'd ever heard.

Water

Why did it all have to do with water?
They'd started with something called trickle-down economics which was clearly a load of tosh and now the papers were talking about streams of migrants which gave way to floods of the same.
He was surprised they hadn't all drowned in the tsunami of bullshit.

Emojis

She was dragged out of her house by two officers without any explanation and thrown into the back of a huge, white truck.
Inside were at least fifty others. They seemed to be of every demographic - men, women, young, old, black, white. Physically they had nothing in common and she wondered what everyone had done.
The truck trundled along and they were thrown this way and that as it bounced along a road clearly not built for trucks.
Eventually they came to a standstill and the doors were opened.
Other trucks were arriving too and everyone was escorted out and made to stand in a line in front of a long wall. A black car with tinted windows arrived.
There was something sinister about the whole situation.
What the hell was happening?
"Attention!" yelled the man from the black car. "You might wonder why you have all been brought here. It's because you haven't followed the law."
What law? What was he talking about?
"As of yesterday the use of emojis is forbidden. You have all used emojis in a tweet or text in the last 24 hours..."
How ridiculous. Was this some sort of elaborate joke?
"...and are therefore all sentenced to death."
Hundreds of shots rang out.