This is the first story I’ve done for Friday Fictioneers that is a continuation of a previous story. I took everyone’s suggestion and wrote another story about Peregrine. I’m sorry that I could not get to many people’s stories last week to read. I really enjoy reading them, but life is crazy busy sometimes.
Copyright Sarah Ann Hall
Clue 43
The coordinates brought Peregrine to a deserted cemetery. The next numbers were chalked on the side of a gravestone. He looked them up: central Algeria, the bastards.
Later, in his Astana hotel, Peregrine sat with vodka and paper, drowning his despair and clutching at hope. He had chased 42 clues, like white rabbits, all over the world but still no progress, no message, no sign of life. Only more coordinates to chase.
He tried ciphers, rearranging the numbers, looking for any kind of clue. A chill went down his spine as words suddenly formed from the numbers: BECKY IS HERE.
The Green-Walled Tower 
May 15th, 2013 at 8:39 pm
Dear David,
I understand busy. I’ll probably be til next Tuesday getting to stories. Off today but will hit the ground running tomorrow and on through the weekend. Graduation weekend. The biggie for us cake decorators.
Well written story. Liked the clue.
Shalom,
Rochelle
May 15th, 2013 at 9:08 pm
Sounds scary since it is on the gravestone. Hope there is much more to it and he finds her. The numbers’ co-relation with alphabets is really interesting.
May 15th, 2013 at 9:11 pm
Thanks. 🙂 Those are the actual coordinates at the bottom too, so you can put them into Google Maps and find the location of the next clue.
May 30th, 2013 at 11:59 pm
where do I put them?
Incidentally, last week, someone gave his Facebook friends a cipher to crack and I did 🙂
May 31st, 2013 at 12:03 am
If you type them into the search bar of Google Maps, it will show the location. Just copy and paste 25.311259, 1.98515
May 31st, 2013 at 12:05 am
Ah! I was trying with spaces. Let me try that.
May 31st, 2013 at 12:11 am
Somewhere ‘near’ Ain Salah 🙂
May 15th, 2013 at 9:23 pm
ooh, sounds like he’s nearly there…
Claire
May 15th, 2013 at 9:30 pm
Love this. 😀
May 15th, 2013 at 9:39 pm
Awesome!
May 15th, 2013 at 11:32 pm
Hope you continue this next week!
May 16th, 2013 at 6:20 pm
I will, don’t worry. 🙂
May 15th, 2013 at 11:44 pm
Actual coordinates I read! Very good stuff, with the twist expected!
May 16th, 2013 at 12:01 am
I see a good use for the word exhumation —
May 16th, 2013 at 1:25 am
alive? dead?
like the ciphers
intriguing
May 16th, 2013 at 2:46 am
I’m intrigued, your story is enticing, Can’t wait for the next chapter! There will be one?
May 16th, 2013 at 6:18 pm
Yeah, most definitely. I don’t know how long I’ll do these, since I like doing different types of stories, but I won’t just leave the story hanging at least.
May 16th, 2013 at 2:48 am
Finally, a sign of life for Peregrine! We can hope that Becky will still be there when he arrives. Great ratcheting up of suspense, and I really like the white rabbit reference.
May 16th, 2013 at 6:17 pm
Thanks. I find this type of large story is quite hard to fit into 100 words. My first draft was way over the limit, so I had to narrow the scope a bit. We’ll see where things lead him next week.
May 16th, 2013 at 2:52 am
This is really interesting. It is a bit scary that it spells out “Becky is here”. I loved it! I think I haven’t read the first one connected to this yet.
May 16th, 2013 at 6:16 pm
And the question is, who would want to send him that message? Is it just a coincidence? 😛
The previous one was last week’s Friday Fictioneers story, called Peregrine’s Bar.
May 17th, 2013 at 8:24 pm
That is a very good question! You could try and do something like Da Vinci Code.
Are you going to continue writing this one? I would love to read more to get the answers! 🙂
May 17th, 2013 at 8:28 pm
I’ll keep it going a bit, at least until there is some resolution. 🙂
May 16th, 2013 at 3:34 am
This is so exciting. The fear, the hope, the adrenaline and the perseverance.
May 16th, 2013 at 4:09 am
I like to help solve the Cryptoquips in the daily paper.
I hope they have a tent structure set up! That’s in the middle of nowhere and whoknowswhere.
May 16th, 2013 at 6:13 pm
It is pretty remote, right on the edge of the mountains. Maybe they have a cave.
May 16th, 2013 at 9:21 pm
Hopefully with an underground water source…
May 16th, 2013 at 7:56 am
David, I don’t have any one thing that I can say is outstanding, but your story just flows naturally and believably. Well done!
janet
May 16th, 2013 at 6:12 pm
Thank you, Janet, glad you liked it. I was a bit leery of continuing with a previous plot, since I think that it tends to lose some of the intensity that comes with flash fiction. I’ll try to keep them well-written.
May 16th, 2013 at 7:57 pm
I know what you mean, David, but every “rule” has exceptions. I think the trick of doing a continuation is that something needs to happen in each week’s story, something that’s both a story in itself and enough of a cliff-hanger that people want to keep reading. That’s hard to do with only 100-words, especially if you’re using the prompt on some even peripheral way. Otherwise each week just becomes a long story broken onto 100-word segments.
May 16th, 2013 at 10:23 pm
Exactly. I’ve realized that every part has to be a self-contained story and satisfying for someone reading the whole thing or someone only reading that part. That’s pretty hard. 🙂
May 16th, 2013 at 10:10 am
love the creativity and the use of a cipher.
May 16th, 2013 at 10:40 am
creeeeeeeepy!
May 16th, 2013 at 1:02 pm
Nice extension of your story. Love all the coordinates lining up, very creative and resourceful. I’ve been busy too! May is always my busiest month. I bet as a teacher, you’re swamped! Hang in there.
May 17th, 2013 at 9:00 pm
Thanks, Amy. Glad you liked it. Actually, since the school year starts in March here, May is actually a very lax month for teachers here. There are so many picnics and special days that I have a lot of days off. All the busyness comes from other things. 🙂
May 18th, 2013 at 6:11 am
Oh,okay! I don’t know why I assumed everything would be the same over there. Well, so long as the busyness is a good thing! 🙂
May 18th, 2013 at 11:33 am
Yeah, it’s good busyness, although it’s frustrating when I can’t get everything I want done and I feel like I’m neglecting things. I guess that’s life. 🙂
May 18th, 2013 at 1:28 pm
I think that’s the story of my life, David! 🙂
May 16th, 2013 at 1:57 pm
please dont stop here! finish the adventure!
May 16th, 2013 at 6:06 pm
Don’t worry. I’ll keep it going. 🙂
May 16th, 2013 at 4:04 pm
Brilliant! Keep going, keep going. We hate unfinished stories 🙂
May 16th, 2013 at 6:03 pm
Okay. 🙂 I promise not to break it off with no resolution.
May 17th, 2013 at 5:35 am
Whew, that’s a cliffhanger of an ending!
May 17th, 2013 at 6:09 am
Loved it. Very freaky
May 17th, 2013 at 11:00 am
Very suspenseful. Can’t wait until next week!
May 17th, 2013 at 6:54 pm
That’s a really thrilling 100 words, and a cliffhanger ending too! Some cliffhangers leave you feeling cheated, but this is so well written it just leaves you wanting more. Loved it!
May 17th, 2013 at 7:36 pm
Thank you so much! I hope the next one keeps up the pace. 😉
May 17th, 2013 at 11:42 pm
Clever and suspenseful. I like ‘vodka and paper’. I can’t do every week either. We are all in the same crazy busy boat! Ann
May 18th, 2013 at 4:28 am
Cooooooooool !!!!!
May 18th, 2013 at 9:48 am
Well written – glad you have found Friday fictioneers – liked the clue – intriguing.
May 18th, 2013 at 10:07 am
Well done!
May 18th, 2013 at 6:28 pm
5-24-3-5-12-12-5-14-20
😀
May 19th, 2013 at 1:06 am
20-8-1-14-11 / 25-15-21 🙂
May 18th, 2013 at 10:09 pm
David this is so clever, it’s a very enjoyable read.
Well done
Dee
May 19th, 2013 at 12:35 am
Very nice! You have me extremely intrigued..
May 19th, 2013 at 3:16 am
I went straight to Google and looked it up. 🙂 Very far away.
May 19th, 2013 at 3:44 am
Ooops. I seem to have been giving people my photoblog URL instead of my prose/poetry blog one. Just rectifying that 🙂
May 19th, 2013 at 2:11 pm
I can see why you search for clues! 🙂
Nice!
May 19th, 2013 at 2:36 pm
It’s how my mind works 🙂
May 19th, 2013 at 3:00 pm
At least it is only 100 words 🙂
May 19th, 2013 at 8:32 pm
Pleased to find mention of more in your comments–I thought the “Becky is here” meant that she was in the deserted cemetery. Look forward to next week.
May 19th, 2013 at 8:40 pm
Ah, I hadn’t thought of it being taken that way before. I hope to make it clearer next time.
May 19th, 2013 at 9:42 pm
I love this type of scavenger-hunt mysteries. You’ve hooked us now.
May 19th, 2013 at 11:59 pm
Everyone else has pretty much covered what I wanted to say, so I just throw in a Nicely done David!
May 20th, 2013 at 12:12 am
Thanks! Glad you liked it.
May 20th, 2013 at 7:48 pm
hats off David, awesome stories this and previous one !
the cipher tying the co ordinates of Algeria to the message and weaving that into the photo prompt.. brilliant ! 🙂
May 20th, 2013 at 8:30 pm
Thank you! Glad you liked it. I’ll try to keep it up next week. 🙂
May 20th, 2013 at 8:16 pm
Great continuation of the story – really tight and full of emotion – it tells us so much more about Peregrine’s character, but I don’t like what those co-ordinates spelled out.
May 21st, 2013 at 2:29 am
That is just E-E-R-I-E!
May 21st, 2013 at 10:28 am
you keep us at the edge of our seats! can’t wait for the next one. this is brilliant and a bit frightening.
May 21st, 2013 at 12:49 pm
Thanks. I appreciate it.
May 22nd, 2013 at 11:59 pm
[…] The third story in the Peregrine series. Hopefully it can also be a standalone story as well for those who haven’t read the first two. Still, here are the first two: Peregrine’s Bar, Clue 43. […]
May 25th, 2013 at 5:19 am
Oh David, I want to extend an exemption on the words to the Baker’s Dozen if you need it. If you add a chapter anything like this we will be happy to allow as many words as you need. This is a fabulous series. I am sorry I missed it last week, but glad I caught up today.
May 25th, 2013 at 5:57 pm
Thanks Joe, glad you liked it. I’ll give my Baker’s Dozen chapter my best shot. 🙂
May 29th, 2013 at 6:07 pm
[…] be able to stand on its own (I hope). Here are the previous editions: 1. Peregrine’s Bar, 2. Clue 43, 3. Midnight […]
June 5th, 2013 at 6:18 pm
[…] continuing story of Peregrine and Becky. Here are the previous editions: 1. Peregrine’s Bar, 2. Clue 43, 3. Midnight Call, 4. Special […]
June 12th, 2013 at 8:43 pm
[…] is a little less stand-alone. However, here are the previous editions: 1. Peregrine’s Bar, 2. Clue 43, 3. Midnight Call, 4. Special Becky, 5. Freakish Becky. Obviously when you write flash-fiction, a […]