Writing Prompt

Very little in Rita Peplums life left her afraid.

She could withstand creepy crawly things and clowns with scary faces; she could withstand reptilian creatures and dark closed spaces.

But what Rita could not withstand- what she absolutely, positively could not handle- was heights.

She had never had any desire to be one of those flying creatures with wings, nor had she had any desire to be any taller than her modest 3 feet.

Rita liked the ground very much and the closer she was to it the happier she was.

On most occasions she thoroughly enjoyed travelling with her mom, the duo a frightless force that performed all kinds of reckless activities.

Rita loved the time they swam with tiger sharks in South Africa and she adored the glacial hikes in Northern Canada- any kind of adventure really.

But what Rita didn’t like was that her mother had dragged her unwillingly on one of the worse hikes in existence (itchy mosquito bites riddled her skin and the sun was far too hot) and to the most terrifying contraption she had ever seen.

The Capilano Suspension Bridge.

“I’m not going”, Rita huffed, crossing her arms and glaring angrily up at her mother.

Rita’s mother, a tall lean woman with thick coils of dark hair and sparkling eyes smiled.

“Come on Ritz, it’s not that bad. I’ll hold your hand the entire time”, her mother assured her.

As expected, the ever stubborn Rita gritted her teeth and shook her head.

“Not going”

Rita’s mother sighed and crouched down beside her daughter. She couldn’t fathom why, of all the terrifying tasks Rita was willing to stand, heights was her Achilles heel.

Rita’s mother herself loved hiking above the clouds and experiencing terrifying drops from great heights on bungee cords. Unfortunately, Rita’s aversion to such activities often roadblocked a lot of the adventurous plans her mother had mentally mapped.

She knew the bridge was probably not the best planned idea, but Rita had been so taken by every other part of the Canadian province that she hoped the bridge would be slightly more appealing to her.

It seems her plan had backfired and the bride was exactly as terrifying to Rita as her mother had hoped it not to be.

All around them people squeezed by towards the bridge, antsy with nerves at the thought of undergoing the daring venture. Rita’s mother felt her own excitement bubble in her chest at the thought of the adrenaline rush that they must all be experiencing; the rush she wanted to experience.

She squeezed Rita’s hands in hers and tried again, gentler this time.

“Rita, you can never let go of your fears unless you at least try to face them”, her mother said softly, her hands warm on Rita’s skin.

Rita glanced at the bridge behind her mother and bit her lip nervously. It was swaying slightly from the weight of people crossing it, but overall the bridge seemed sturdy enough.

Still, unease coiled in Rita’s gut like a compost of lively worms.

“Can’t. Too high”, was all Rita managed to mumble, her eyes still glued to the bridge.

Her mother desperately wanted to push harder, to make Rita cross the bridge and proclaim proudly on the other side: “See! It wasn’t that bad!”.

But the clear discomfort on her daughters face and her clammy palms set her maternal instincts on high alert. Perhaps pushing Rita too far was not a good idea. Besides, Rita was the most fearless kid she had ever known and she was grateful her daughter was so willing to stick by her side for all the other adrenaline fuelling adventures she had taken them on.

A little disappointed, but overall proud of her decision, her mother nodded.

“Okay, if that’s what you want Rita, we don’t have to cross the bride. It’s alright”, she announced.

Rita smiled thankfully up at her mother, but the sullenness in her big dark eyes did not go unnoticed.

Her mother squeezed Rita’s shoulders gently pressed a kiss to her temple.

“Really honey, it’s all right”, she assured her, meaning it more the second time. Her mother had decided that crossing the bridge was no longer high on her list of priorities, all she wanted now was for Ritas face to light up with that smile she adored.

“I heard there’s a fantastic ice cream shop nearby and you’ll never guess what they have….”, Rita’s mother trailed switching gears to a topic she hoped would cheer Rita up. She watched her daughters face anxiously.

The lines on Rita’s face smoothed and a smile slowly crossed her face.

“Rocky Road?”, she asked hopefully.

Her mother nodded, a giant smile spreading across her face at the sight of Rita’s expression.

“Shall we go?”, her mother asked, standing at full height and extending her palm out to Rita. Rita took her hand joyfully and as the two turned their back on the bridge Rita’s mother felt Rita tighten her grasp on her hand.

Under her breath Rita murmured: “I’ll do it next year mom, I promise. I just need more time”.

Rita’s mother squeezed her hand back lovingly and smiled down at her daughter, the miniature version of herself.

“I know you will, my fearless little lion”

“What do you mean there’s no other way?” I looked at them incredulously.

My group leader looked apologetic. “While there are others ways, they would take too long. We don’t have the l provisions for it”

I swallowed hard. I’d known it was coming but I’d hoped there was a way round it. Slowly we packed everything up and made our way to the canopy.

As I looked up, I saw the trees. The bridge hung like a ribbon across the canopy! No hand rails at the edges. People walked across with no worries. But that was them.

This is me. I can face snakes, venomous spiders, the craziest monsters you could ever contemplate. But this, this was too much.

It was ….. high.

I really didn’t want to do this. Not in front of the others. But I had too.

“Damn it!”

Slowly I put one foot out on the bridge. It wobbled beneath me. I was afraid. Suddenly I felt an hand reached out for mine.

“Come on we’ll make it”.

Slowly, we moved. “Don’t look down!”

My heart sped up and my pulse went through the roof. I felt like I was walking through treacle.

“Don’t worry. We’ll make it across.”

Each step was a pain. Too high! Too high! Minutes stretched in to hours. Hours felt like days. Days like weeks. I was so scared.

Eventually, I made it to the other side and collapsed to the ground.

From behind me I heard cheers and clapping. Shouts of ‘well done’ and ‘congratulations’

“You can now add conquering high bridges to your achievements Sonny.”

I sat there and grinned.

A cold morning to start with; bags were packed, goodbyes were said and hugs brought out smiles on people’s faces. This was a journey we had never embarked on. Everybody was willing to have this great experience- to walk on this long bridge that connected trees in the forest, what was known as ‘ the canopy walk’. This was one place that could force the the lion out of one to humble itself. We set off at dawn so that we could get there on time because we had other places to visit too. Within four hours, we were at our destination. It was a great time to socialize because many people had come from world’s ends to have this experience. After some minutes, we were attended to by the tour guide, who gave us a thorough detail about this site. We all nodded in excitement as we set to begin our journey. We had to walk through the forest for a few miles before getting to the canopy walk. In fact, what we had heard and seen on tv was nothing compared to what we saw in reality. This was a canopy walk that was more than 200 feet about level ground, which means you could see the uppermost part of the tallest tree. You could hear screams echo the whole forest as shivers run down the spines of many. This was not for the feint-hearted. Those who did not have the courage to embark on the journey had to withdraw because it was a 20 mile journey. We who were ready to face the worst got the courage to lead the rest of the pack. We set off some minutes later amidst screams from the lot. As I looked down, I felt as if I had jumped off a plane without any parachute to give me a safe landing. I could feel my blood rush through my veins with the speed of light. It was really scary. After walking for some distance, everybody stopped and turned back to see what was going on behind us. I was wondering if the worst had happened- someone falling. But that was nearly impossible. Instead, it was a lady who was screaming at the top of her voice as if she had some ghouls trying to drain her soul. She was scared as hell. Those around her tried to calm her down but it was just a useless effort. She wanted to go back to save herself from this torture but we had gone too far to do that. We later got to know she was acrophobic. Funny scenes just made our day. She had to crawl to continue her journey, with people taking out their phones to record it. Her prayers at that moment was just enough to bring heaven on earth. Funny, she was the same person who was bragging like she was gonna cover the distance in some seconds. Ah well, this was the start of a new day.

His breathing hitched as his best friend turned the corner and froze. He knew why. He looked over her shoulder and saw the bridge that hung over a river.

“Not happening” He grabbed her hand and turned around.

“Oh, Come on! You’ve got to do it someday..” She pulled him towards her giving him a quick peck on the cheek and a warm smile before shoving him in the direction of the bridge.

He did it. He touched the bridge.

He didn’t cross it.

But he touched it.

...then ran the other way.

Once a pone a time their was a girl who hated any type of bridge but one day she had to over come her fear of bribes so her parents took her to the tree top brige they got to the middle and brige started to snap and every one stared to run sep from the girl and her parents the girl started to wonder why her parents dint run so she asked her mum “mum are you joking what are you doing go,” said the girl “NO we are not you need to over come your fear or your just going to fear all your life you won’t Evan go on a arioplane,” said the mum “mum I’m going bye,”said the girl The girl started to fall and fall and fall

The end