About the challenge: Each Tuesday I will provide a photo prompt. Your mission, if you choose to accept the challenge, is to tell a story in 280 characters or less. When you write your tale, be sure to let me know in the comments with a link to your tale. If you would prefer to post your tale in the comments (some people have very specific blog themes but still want to participate), I am happy to post a link to your site when I post your tale in the Round Up.

A final note: if you need help tracking the number of characters in your story, there is a nifty online tool that will count for you at charactercountonline.com.

I will do a roundup each Tuesday, along with providing a new prompt. And if for some reason I missed your entry in the Roundup, as I have occasionally done, please let me know. I want to be sure to include your tale.

Finally, have fun!

Twittering Tales #129 -The Roundup

Starting us off..
Canary Test Fail
“Poor bastards. They thought those damn birds would save ‘em.”
“Let’s just do what we came here for.” Agent Shultz sighed, as he tugged at one of the cages.
The chemical attack had been swift. The birds died instantly, and along with them, the people who placed their hope in them.
~kat
279 Characters

By MSJadeli at Tao Talk:
Steel webs hold sorrow captive 
and trap the remembering of 
folly or random ends. 
hopes also trapped
for happy returns.
how selfish.
let them fly free,
souls flitting,
sparkling 
jewels.
on a cosmic ocean
they will play —
and wait
for you —
there.
[237 characters]

By Kate at Everywhere and Nowhere:
beacon
My father used to say they were there to catch wishes and I believed him because I was too young to be there as night fell. When I was old enough to watch people light the candles, put them inside and raise them to the sky I realised it wasn’t wishes they caught but memories.
Characters: 276

By Reena at ReInventions:
Cages
“The birds have been set free.”
“Not all. This is a red light area, and there are many inside the cages inside the building. Call the police for a rescue operation.”
I wonder why some faces in the room turned red.
(211 characters)

By The Dark Netizen:
Cages
Here they come, the supposed saviours.
They have come to challenge me. No doubt they want to defeat me and take possession of the keys to the cages. Do they think that they can free their captured kin from my grasp so easily? I am not letting them have my pets.
They are all mine…
Character Count: 280

By Fandango at This, That, and the Other:
Birdman
They called him Birdman. He strung birdcages on wires between the buildings. They thought it was pleasant and enjoyed the chirping of all of the birds.
But then he got carried away. Too many cages. Too much noise. Too much bird poop falling on the kids playing in the alley below.
(279 characters)

By Di at Pensitivity101:
Part One:
No-one was allowed to keep a pet in their apartment, but there was nothing to say they couldn’t have one outside.
113 characters.
Part Two:
The Bird has flown.
19 characters
Part Three:
Now all her kids were grown, somehow the empty nest syndrome didn’t seem so bad.
80 characters.

By Ramya at And Miles to Go Before I Sleep:
Empty Cages
The cages lay empty..
They have always been empty..
These cages were installed in hope that birds and humans can coexist together..
But who would want to live with the humans who took their home to create concrete jungle.
Character Count : 218

By Kristian at Tales from the Mind of Kristian:
To Appreciate the Cage, You Need To Be Outside
They appeared overnight. No one knew who’d hung the cages across the street. Someone with too much leisure time, no doubt.
The street artist turned from the gawping crowd, the look of enjoymentclear on her face.
The message was to appreciate your freedom before it’s too late.
[278 Character]

By Regina at Help From Heaven:
Free to Live Our Best Lives
Guilt and shame are like cages,
Holding us hostages by their lies,
Making us believe we cannot change,
No matter how hard we have tried.
But, let’s look in our mirrors,
Forgiving ourselves for past sins.
Then the doors of our cages will open,
Freeing us to live our best lives again.
(277 characters)

By Radhika at Radhika’s Reflection:
Caged Memories!
Their affair had been wonderful till it lasted. Everything was going their way until life threw up some unexpected twists which led to their eventual breakup.
Free, yet caged to the innumerable memories they shared as a couple, didn’t help Tia get over it. Was she really free?
letter count : 278

By Tessa at Tessa Can Do It!:
The landlords would not allow pets in the apartments so all the residents got birds or small dogs or cats and hung the cages in the alleyway around the wash on the lines. The landlords couldn’t complain since they were technically not in the apartments themselves.
265 characters

By Ennle at Abandoned Amenities:
The Birds Knew
It was always the birds
From first glimpse
Outside his window.
He despised the city
But for birds’ flutter
Winged song his
Preferred company
Conversation
Society he related to
Familiar with cages.
Uncomfortable amid
Human babbling ~
Made no sense to him
But the birds knew
His spirit, language.
280 characters

By Hayley at The Story Files:
Robirds
Opening my window, I smoked my first cig of the morning. The cages strung between apartment blocks were filled with brightly colored, noisy birds. As a child, I’d thought them real and tried to set them free but there were no animals and those birds are robots.

By Anurag at Jagahdilmein:
Those Were The Days
This used to be the most beautiful street in the city, wildly popular among residents as well as tourists.
But not anymore.
Not since the epidemic, after which the cages had to be emptied.
After all, no bird in his right mind would want to see a dead, rotting human in a cage.
274 characters.

By Jo at A Creative PTSD Gal:
Trapping Wings
$10,000 REWARD!
Small songbird escaped May 4th.
She has gold wings, pearl beak…’
Ell recalled the poster when she saw a bird with actual gold wings and beak of pearl.
She thought, ‘The sweet songs are lovely but I think she’s worth more than the reward.’
That day she set her traps.
Character Count: 280

By Willow at WillowDot21:
Birdcage Walk.
No one noticed the eggs arrival.They incubated on their own. The chicks were put in cages and hung between the buildings. The birds thrived growing to huge proportions. People came from all over to see them. They renamed the road Birdcage Walk. Then one day the cages were empty.
(279 Characters)

By Deborah at A Wise Woman’s Journey:
Caged Souls
Caged souls
that…
cannot sing
lying in wait
for release
whilst in the
midst of their
dark season
of healing
and their
broken wings
are mended
to fly
far and beyond
the pain that
took their life
and become
the lyrics
that sing
to the other
caged souls
that are
lying in wait
lifting their spirits
and filling them
with hope
to carry
them through
until…
it is their time
to fly
far and beyond
the pain
that killed them.

By John at Broadsides:
Noah was concerned. His plan to have a male and female of every species of bird that flew across the earth was getting out of hand.. He was going to need a bigger boat.

By Ron at Read 4 Fun:
Birds Twitter
The narrow streets protected the cages from sound wave attacks. EMP had destroyed all digital technology in the first few hours. Then came the bio attacks that killed so many humans. Now all communication was by carrier birds. Like the past, the bird was the word. Big Bird rules.
280 characters

By Peter at Peter’s Pondering:
It was a huge turnout for the inaugural “Invisible Hot Air Balloon Convention.”
The baskets had to be in the form of bird cages, but otherwise there were no restrictions. Balloons could be any shape and size, and colour.
Everyone was ecstatic.
Me, I just couldn’t see the attraction!
(279 characters)

By Graham at Graham is Just My Name:
The Bird Liberators are hanging empty cages in all major cities this weekend to remind us that caging has been a criminal offence since 2028.
Their leader, Robin Perch, announced a rebrand, as the RoboBird Liberators, following a recent rise in the popularity of Robobird cagings. (279 characters)

By Deb at Twenty Four:
She had high hopes when she saw the advert, two bedroom townhouse close to transport and the city centre and it was at a price tag even she could afford.
Now though, as she looked out of the window, the last comment made a disturbing kind of sense.
Must not own a bird.
Yep.
(273 characters)

By Sadje at Keep It Alive:
It certainly made a statement, as was his aim. All these empty birdcages suspended between the alley walls. He got lot of coverage in the social media for this stunt. When the big new network interviewed him and ask the rationale behind this he told them that this represented the soul of the society.
Character count; 243

By Linda Lee at Charmed Chaos:
Vanished
The wee ones had never seen a bird, or heard their lilting songs. But Claire remembers well. Brilliant feathers, in all the colors of the rainbow. Haunting melodies that carried on the wind night and day. And then, they were gone, vanished in thin air, and the world fell silent.

By JP at The Wide-Eyed Wanderer:
The Ebony Wisps
The Ebony Wisps had sharp talons and needle-like teeth. They feared only one thing, birds. The children strung open cages between the buildings inviting the birds to come. The birds loved the new homes and twittered merrily away while dive bombing any Wisp that came within reach.
character count 280

By Tina at Tina Stewart Brakebill:
Empty Cages
No one saw them come. They just appeared overnight. Cages. Thousands of them, millions probably. Everywhere. We stared. Pointed. Hypothesized. Made bets on what had been inside, where they had run off to. Nobody guessed the cages weren’t really empty. Until it was too late.

So…a little bird told me…not really, I just wanted to use that line. Well done everyone. Welcome new tweeters! Thank you to everyone who gave last week’s challenge a go. For this week a Photo prompt by Marc Schäfer at Unsplash.com that begs an answer. “Things I wanted to say…but never did.” You could tell a proper tale with unspoken, spoken dialog, a tale of regret…or if you’re game, this is your chance to get something off your chest. No diatribes allowed, mind you…you only have 280 characters to spill those beans. At any rate have fun! I’m listening…And I’ll see you at the roundup!

Twittering Tales #130 – 2 April 2019

Photo by Marc Schäfer at Unsplash.com

You Had Me At…

I could never bring myself to say it. There were so many opportunities. Times we passed in the hall. That rainy day I held the door as you rushed by, damp hair smelling of cologne. Rememember? Why would you. Now I’m left to wonder what might have been if only I’d said ‘hello’.

~kat

277 Characters

p.s. I loathe WP’s new “wonderful blocks”. It makes doing summary posts a nightmare! Just saying. Rant over! Happy Tweeting!