Jane Levi

Flash contest #16: Write about a character waiting for something, but don’t reveal what they’re waiting for until the end. The week commencing July 20th (Daily Creativity prompt #86) was our seventeenth week of flash contests, with a challenge set by former contributor Ana Rowell, 15, who also helped us judge this week’s contest. Thank you, Anna! This prompt produced lots of entries, all of them filled with suspense. You obviously all had fun structuring your stories to keep us guessing about what we were waiting for, and even who or what it was that was waiting (animal, vegetable or mineral)! Our favourites kept us waiting until the end to find out what was really going on; and made us go back to the beginning to pick up the subtle hints we might not have piked up first time. Well done everyone for your work on this challenge, and especially to our winners and honorable mentions, listed below. Read on after the list of winners to enjoy the winners’ work for yourselves. Winners “Stalling” by Sophia Do, 12 (Lititz, PA) “Rain” by Kyler Min, 9 (Vienna, VA) “Waiting for a Comet” by Madeline Sornson, 13 (La Jolla, CA) “From the Other Side of the Road” by Amruta Krishnan Srinivasan, 9 (San Jose, CA) “Wait for it . . .” by Ian Xie, 12 (Weston, MA) Honorable Mention “The Waiting Game” by Elsa N. Ahern, 10 (Winnetka, IL) “The Waiting Hill” by Liam Hancock, 12 (Danville, CA) “Cats of War and Peace” by Sneha Jiju, 12 (Chandler, AZ) “The Woman” by April Yu, 12 (East Brunswick, NJ) “Something Worth Waiting For” by Mila Zhao, 6 (Blue Ash, OH) Also, look out on our COVID-19 blog next week for “The Goal” by Ziva Ye, 9 (Overland Park, KS), which both responds to the contest prompt and tells a great story related to the current pandemic–from a very unexpected perspective! Sophia Do, 12Lititz, PA Stalling Sophia Do, 12 Ella paced the floor. Come on, come on! she thought and started to jump and down. Hurry, hurry! People passed by and looked at her funny. Ella stopped jumping and stood up straight. Just act normal, she told herself. You can’t look suspicious. You never know who your enemies are. “Hi,” a woman with a short pixie cut hair said. “Is this the women’s?” “Yes,” Ella said and crossed her legs. The woman walked to the back of the line that went out of the door. Ugh, why are the lines always so long? The Council really needed to rethink this. “Hey, Ella!” A girl with blonde hair and blue tips bounced up to her, hands still damp from washing. “I thought you couldn’t come to the mall today?” “Oh, hi Mary Anne ” Ella said, and silently cursed the Council. Why did they have to send her to the mall? “I thought I had to, um, visit my grandma.” “I thought you said your grandma lived in California?” Mary Anne asked. “My other grandma,” Ella fibbed. “What are you doing here?” “Just hanging out with the girls,” Mary Anne said. “After you do your thing, do you want to hang out with us? We haven’t done a girls’ day at the mall in forever!” “Oh, uh, sure,” Ella said. “I’ll meet you by the food court.” “Great!” Mary Anne said and flounced out of the bathroom. Why? Why? Why? Ella groaned. This is bad. Now I have to make up an excuse for why I didn’t meet up with her! A couple more minutes passed and Ella was starting to worry. If I’m not there in time the Council is going to kill me. Adam said the meeting is important. What is taking this person so long!? Finally, the line moved forward and Ella was soon inside. She peeked under the first stall and saw it was occupied. “Excuse me?” A small voice asked. “Do you mind if I cut in front of you?” Ella turned around and an older petite woman smiled up at her, adding more lines to her already wrinkled face. “I’m sorry, but I really have to go!” “Oh, of course,” Ella said and let the woman cut in front of her. Ella bit her lip, hoping that the next door to open wasn’t the one that she wanted. Thankfully, the last door in the line of stalls opened and the little old lady walked in. A few more minutes passed and another door opened in the middle of the hall of stalls, “Ms,” the pregnant woman behind her said, “that one’s open.” “Oh, you can go,” Ella said, “I like this one.” She motioned to the one that she was standing in front of. The pregnant lady gave her a weird look and moved on. Finally, the door that Ella wanted opened and a woman in red high heels walked out. Ella froze, what was Counselor Rylie doing here? Were they going to kick her out? Counselor Rylie brushed past Ella and shoved something in her hand. When she was gone, Ella unfolded her hand and opened up the piece of paper. Second Floor. Ella cursed, “Excuse me,” she said and pushed her way out of the room. She passed Mary Anne by the food court. “Are you done?” she called. “No, sorry! Line was too long!” Ella called back and beelined for the stairs. Taking the stairs two at a time, she made a sharp right and screeched to a stop, staring at another long line. Wow, were they giving out free drinks at the food court today? she thought as she went to the back of the line. Minutes passed, but unlike the other line, this one moved faster. Ella looked at the piece of paper again to make sure that she was at the right one. What was wrong with the other one? She thought. We really need a better way to do this. Finally, she was at the front of the line. Ella paced anxiously and