September 17, 2019

Twittering Tales #154 – 17 September 2019

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. This is important as I have noticed that some of the ping backs have not been working. 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!

This Week’s Twittering Tales #154 – 17 September 2019 – Photo Prompt

This week’s photo prompt comes to us from Tama66 at Pixabay.com. What do you think is in this trunk? Where did it come from? Who does it belong to? It’s a mystery! Can’t wait to find out! 😊

Photo by Tama66 at Pixabay.com

The Time Capsule

The Year is 3020. A time capsule from 2020 has been unearthed. Hologram screens materialized around the world as the Western Hemisphere President unlatched the trunk revealing an iPhone, shape-wear, A camera drone, an Instapot, air fryer, CBD oil and Donald Trump’s tax returns.

~kat

280 Characters

Twittering Tales #153 – The Roundup

Photo by Nadiya Ploschenko at Unsplash.com

Starting Us Off…
The Visitors
The ufo was back, but Jules was ready. They would not take him aboard the craft tonight! He chained himself to the floor eventually falling asleep when the lights from the ship went dark.
Earthlog-Humanoid #469: Specimen set up defenses after only 3 days. Test brain matter.
~kat
275 Characters

By Tien at From the Window Seat:
The Wait
Through the blinds, he saw the sun rays fade and he grinned.
The day was over and he was free to roam the streets, terrorising the town! Oh yes, it would be fun indeed, he thought as he touched his gleaming fangs.
At last, it was finally dark!
“Mom, can we go trick-or-treating now?”
(280 characters)

By Regina at Help From Heaven:
Thankful for Car Lights
Guileless of the danger ahead, I continued my odyssey across Ireland. As I came into a bend, I saw my lights illuminating the fence, an indication that I was on the wrong side of the road. I quickly adjusted, barely missing another car head-on. Silently, I said,”Forgive me!”
(277 Characters)

By Di at Pensitivity101:
She was being watched.
The light behind the blind was not the sun.
65 characters

By Josie at Rattlebag and Rhubarb:
The Visitors
Take a look. See? They are out there.
I told you.
Turn out the light
Maybe they won’t notice us.
Where does the back door lead?
Quick – they’re coming through the gate.
Do you have your passport?
No, leave the cat.
We have to leave the cat.
Hurry!
(210 characters)

By Bear at Jellico’s Writing Nook:
All That Matters
Sunlight barely filtered through the blinds when Abigail opened her eyes. A smile slowly spread into a grin as the nightmare faded to the back of her mind. She was home… and that, was ALL that mattered!
cc: 202

By Mike at The Bookish Recovering Know-It-All:
What Now?
What the hell? It’s supposed to be night time, but someone out there is bound to bring daylight thru my window artificially at 230am. I have a busy day ahead. I need my sleep for what will be my last day single. Hell, may as well get up now. “Turn those g-damned headlights off!!”
-280 characters

By Tina at Tina Stewart Brakebill:
Following the Sun
She planned to go at first light. But as the rays filtered through the slats, she felt a moment of doubt.
No! It had to be now. If she didn’t go now, she’d never go.
Her ‘no’ spun into a maybe until it was a yes. Then she’d be stuck.
Forever.
No!
Now beckoned. She followed.
280 Characters

By Reena at ReInventions:
It Should Be Right
Strings when pulled the right way, open windows to let in light ….
Wait a minute, it could be dark fantasies, biting cold moments or hot flashes of evil….
What really matters – the time should be right.
(200 characters)

By Melanie at Sparks From a Combustible Mind:
Cracked
Liberty shifted restlessly in the strange bed. Motel living was torture to one who suffered from severe insomnia. The best way for her to get some sleep (maybe four hours) was having familiar and total darkness to sleep in. Being a travelling salesperson sucked sometimes.
(Character Count: 276)

By Joe ant Does Writing Excuse Watching:
Awake
john’s life turned around and he became a success when he learned that blackout curtains, like those used in motels, work much better than venetian blinds for those who sleep during the day and work at night. no longer was he drowsy and sluggish on the job. and then he met mary.

By Tessa at Tessa Can Do It:
We Can’t Trust Anyone
“Linda check the computers for any info. No one is watching us,” Ron said.
“Oh Ron, we have to get out of here, they plan to kill us once they have the chip.”
“Let’s go! To the safe house we haven’t used yet from the Alliance.”
“We are in danger,” Linda said turning from the window.
280 characters

By Larry at East Elmhurst A Go Go:
I’m So Tired
Insomnia is lethal. There are only so many bad jokes, memories of food fights in 1970, and counting tiles a guy can be expected to handle at 2:00 a.m. At least now I remember where I left my Etch A Sketch in ’66. I have to get something done about this. For now I stare a lot. (character count: 280)

By Lisa at Tao Talk:
Return
“How long has it been dark, Mama?”
“Since you were five, Sil.”
“I remember a big orange ball in the sky, Mama.”
“Yes, Sil, that was the sun, what lights and warms the world.”
“Will it ever come back, Mama? I’m cold.”
“Maybe one day it will, Sil.”
And one day – it did.
[265 characters]

By The Dark Netizen
Golden Sun
I peeked through my window blinds.
The city was bathed in the golden rays of the morning sun. It was pretty, but there was nothing out there for me. No cause to step out. In fact, I doubt anyone had any reason to step outside now.
But, the radiation was reason enough to stay in…
Character Count: 280

By Shweta at My Random Ramblings:
Is There a Thief in the Night?
The noise had scared Nia. Armed with her flashlight and pepper spray, she set off to probe. She’d turned off the the kitchen light! Now it was on! She saw the thief with her cake and screamed. The thief just laughed. It was her absentee flatmate who had returned for a midnight dessert!
(280 characters)

By Kitty at Kitty’s Verses:
Until He Came Out
Peek-a-boo!
It’s gotta be true!
First rays across the eastern sky,
Sparrows, pigeons, eager to fly high,
Happy to start another day,
A grain or two they would pick on the way,
Wait a moment,
No time to lament!
This was what was doing the rounds,
Eclipse! they had to wait until he came out.
281 characters.

By Enzo at Travel, Food, Arts and More:
The watcher
Susan got used to the regular intrusions by her neighbour who would pretend to enjoy the view from his balcony to have a peek at her bedroom. This time she was determined to let him know this was unwelcome. She wrote on the back of an old sign and posted it on her window: WANKER!
(280 characters)

By Graham at Graham is Just My Name:
When you left, I tried to remain in the dark, preferring the gloom that matched my splintered heart.
But the early rising sun found a way of dispelling my melancholy with its warm searching rays and sowed the seeds of my convalescence.
I took a long, deep cleansing breath.
(271 characters)<

By Peter at Peter’s Pondering:
They had been at it for hours!
They didn’t seem to mind who heard them, and, in the glare of the lights, who saw them!
She’d never heard such grunting and groaning. It was all rather embarrassing!
Tomorrow she will adjust the security lights so they are not triggered by hedgehogs!
(279 character)

By Ron at Read 4 Fun:
How Can I Say It?
Dad and us kids helped build the darkroom, so we knew about the addition he made, the false walls and spy vents into the bedroom. Dad can’t keep secrets from us. Dad was home today but mom wasn’t so who was he with in the bedroom? OK, I read about this; it is always the mailman.
280

By John at Broadsides:
Maybe you knew the band? Uneven are the steps, steep is the stair, and tortuous is the climb, lit by the gold of the fading sun, the steps ascend on and on and on, you must tread with infinite care for you are climbing the stairway to heaven.

By Kristian at Tales from the Mind of Kristian:
The Reckoning
She felt butterflies in her middle and an intense heat that made sweat roll down her back.
She used to think sweat was sensual, remembering a steamy night when Steve came to talk but left her so emotional.
The headlights pierced through the blinds and she faced her future.
[274 Characters]

By Chaotically Yours at Dreaming Through the Noise:
Future Unwritten
Through the night, they talked of their future. As usual, it went nowhere.
Come dawn, she left the body-warmed sheets, their mingled scents—vanilla-lavender, oak and bergamot, fresh sweat—behind for her pre-packed bag, the water-cool smell of morning, the radiance of the horizon.
Characters: 279

By Deb at Twenty Four:
Nora wasn’t a forgiver and she didn’t intend to commence now that she’d been forced to move into the nursing home. They could shove that where the sun didn’t shine, she decided as she glared at the matron.
“Ma’am, it’s only a bit of dust.”
“Then clean it,” Nora stated forcefully.
(279 characters)

By Suzette at Suzette B’s Blog:
She sat staring at the busy rays of morning light triumphantly escaping from the tattered blinds.
Her carefully dimmed sanctuary now intruded by soft gentle
orange hues illuminating her hands as
She raised the blinds to reveal–the ancient church next door

By Sadje at Keep It Alive:
He woke up disoriented and weary. He opened the blind a bit to see if the thugs following him had caught up with him. Thankfully there was no sign of anyone outside. He quickly dressed and opened the door when he was stopped short by a gun nozzle staring him between his eyes.

By Willow at WillowDot21:
The Return.
Headlights pierced the room through the blinds. Oh! No she thought he’s back. The stress filled her body, why she asked herself, every time she thought she could relax he came home. Oh! Well that’s the end of her rest, best get him a cuppa and some food and of course the remote!
(278 Characters)

By Milly at Truly Milly:
A Stalker
Last night, she saw a stranger under a tree in their garden, watching her room on the second floor. She suspects it was a stalker.
Horrified, she peeked from behind the blinds to see if he was there again tonight. A face three inches close suddenly caused her to stumble.
(272 characters)

Fandango at This, That, and the Other:
The Safe House
They gave him a new identity and moved him to an isolated safe house. It was at the end of a long driveway and couldn’t be seen from the main road.
But when he saw the lights from the approaching car shining through the blinds, he knew his past had finally caught up with him.
(275 characters)

Great roundup everyone! I’m afraid I was late getting to reviewing everyone’s tales. I worked dawn to dusk at my day job all week with barely a break. Thank you for taking time from your busy schedules to participate in this challenge every week. It makes me so happy to know you’re having fun! See you at next week’s roundup! Have a great week!