The mist clouded the garden as the old man stepped into the black limousine.
A hooded figure sat in the drivers seat. ‘I’m ready.’ The old man said as the car glided into the mist.
It was a short ride to the old part of town.
The old man stepped out; the hooded figure pointed a bony finger in the direction he was to follow.
He was not surprised the street was busy.
He joined the end of the queue.
Sigh, he realised his journey was over.
Above him a sign flashed.
The Street of Ramps, always open, never closed.
Morpethroad 
Oooh! Atmospheric and portentous, I love it!! 🙂 🙂
Thank you Helen, I did like writing this one.
Good job! Very atmospheric.
Thank you so much. I appreciate your reading my work. Please call again.
Ooooo….mysterious…loved it!
Thank you so much Bastet, that is such an odd name, sorry but I have a rather unfortunate association with it…..will upset you if I use your name?
Not at all Michael…I was surprised when you called me Bastet, Georgia is fine, I like my name 😉
Then so be it……Georgia it will be and yes it is a lovely name.
do you read other FF’s. Like have you read Oberon?
I try to read other FFs there are very many! I’m not sure if I’ve ever read Oberon…will go and look him up now!
yes there is a lot, its entertaining over there….
I do so agree…I love the prompt and try to write one every week, and read a few too, some are so original! They’re a great crowd!
they are though I tend to be a bit naughty with the FF
And how’s that..I seem to have gotten on the wrong side of Titania at the mo’ 😉
Oh, I see, hmmm…..email??
No problem…we seem to have worked it out…the encounter of a Faery queen with and Egyptian goddess and all that 😉
Georgia, I am happy you two have sorted your differences. Did you receive an email from me?
OOhhh you are getting very clever – your imagination hold no bounds now does it. Very foreboding piece Michael.
Thanks Jenny, must be the company I keep.
🙂 must be
I like the mysterious other dimention feel to this!
Thanks RoSy, it was a bit of fun to play with the words for this one.
I really enjoyed this – it made me think of a painting which I fell in love with as a child (and still love now) it is in the room I slept in in my grandparents house and is an old dark oil painting of a set of dingily lit stairs, perhaps the sort of stairs that might lead to an attic or basement. I was endlessly fascinating by this picture as a kid and would sit for hours making up stories about where the stairs led to! Your image and your words evoked the same sense of wondering…
Thanks Pooky, it is very gratifying when others relate to what I write, I am pleased that you were able to connect the way you did. Great comment I feel very good reading it.
Very clever!!! I really like it.
Thank you Anja, as always you are very generous to me.
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Darkly intriguing.
Excellent.
Thank you good sir.
I really enjoyed the build up on this one, and was on the edge of my seat for the ending, which, I confess, I found unsatisfying — am I missing the significance of The Street of Ramps? Is there a metaphor there that I’m not aware of? I think with a few more words you could change the ending into something more ominous….
Thanks Helena, I agree the ending could be better, but one of the issues with one hundred words is the set up of the story takes so many of them. No the Street of Ramps is something I made up, like a portal to the next word, hence the concluding sentence. But I take on your criticism.
Dark and ominous but then death has always been the mystery we human beings could not solve:-)Great piece Summer!
Thanks Atreyee, yes death is our greatest mystery. Thanks so much for your comment, it is always good to see you reading my posts.
:-)a pleasure Summer-I try to catch up on my reading whenever I can
I love your title. This is most mysterious and dark. I like your original take.
Thanks Amy. Thanks for reading, nice to see you again.
A bit of the “Hotel California” feel, although maybe in reverse.
janet
Thanks Janet, that’s an interesting take on my take.I see what you mean though.
We done a similar take on this photo. It is clear your fellow is heading for his ‘death’ whatever that word means. Your story ends on an invisible question mark and mine on a visible one. It is the same question. Interesting read. Ann
Thanks Ann, it may have been your piece that inspired me.
P S. I just wonder – your last line – if it’s always open, is it necesssary to add, ‘never closed’? Perhaps it’s about the rhythm of the line. Ann
I did debate that point with myself at the time, but in the end I wanted to create a finality about his situation. Initially I was going to say, ‘we only close on you.’ but I thought that was a bit trite. Thanks Ann for asking the question.
I’m glad I did, because it’s mirrored back to me that repetition can be used for emphasis quite legitimately, even in short pieces.
Yes exactly, repetition is wonderful device to use.
I guess it’s the hooded figure, like the grim reaper but this made me think of Dickens.
Thanks Dawn, that’s a good point to make about Dickens I can see why you would.
Very nice, especially considering the location of the picture and its Death related history. May I nitpick though and wonder if the second figure in the long double central sentence, the bony one, should not read finger instead?
And wholly agreed with your comments to Helena & Annisik51 about the “cheating” ( as I see it ) implied or brought about by the short short format. I usually write first and definitive versions myself without problems and yet have to correct and rewrite a lot for Friday Fictioneers stories.
Oh well, part of the charm of the exercise, I guess?
Good day to youn Tommy, Tay.
Thanks Tay, you were right and correction made.Thank you for your comment the format does sometimes require the reader to assume a number of things. Great comment, please call again.
Dear Summer,
I hear Blood, Sweat and Tears singing, “I’m the stranger in the black sedan, won’t you step inside my car…”
Nice one.
shalom,
Rochelle
Thanks Rochelle, I don’t know the song but if you think it it must be a good one.
If you care to listen to it, here’s the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6Q3G3YQWck
Not exactly your story. 😉 It’s just where my mind went.
Thanks Rochelle that takes takes me back, not a lot of love in my story though, more lot of finality.
True. I got that. It’s a good story. Just had that line running through my head.
A hooded driver with a bony finger pointing … too bad he didn’t simply drive the old man to a really good Italian restaurant and point out the daily specials. Kidding — your story was well done in its foreboding of where the driver was taking him. Hope the old man makes some friends in that long line on the ramp.
I am sure Zooky that he may well have preferred the Italian restaurant, he now has an eternity to make a new friend.Thanks so much for your comment.
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