Twittering Tales #161 – 5 November 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!

Twittering Tales #161 – 5 November 2019

This week’s photo prompt is by Michael Gaida at Pixabay.com. There is most certainly a story here. Simmer on it a while or tell us the story that pops into your head. You have a week and 280 characters to tell it. Have fun and I’ll see you at the roundup!

Photo by Michael Gaida @ Pixabay.com

Lost and Found
Adam had wandered off the path. Now he was lost. The food Adam had wandered off the path. Now he was lost. The food and bottled water he’d packed were almost gone.

“At least I’ll have shelter tonight,” he sighed.

Suddenly a light pierced through the ceiling.

“Hello Adam,” a voice boomed,”I’ve been waiting for you.”

”Oh my god!!!!”

“Yes?”

~kat

278 Characters

Twittering Tales #160 – The Roundup

Starting us off:

One Foot In The Grave

“I don’t like it. Are you sure this is the place?”
“That’s what they said.”
“Nobody’s here. We should go.”
“Wait! I hear something.”
“Oh god! This is creepy. Let’s go!”
“Give it a minute.”
“For what? Are you crazy?!”
“SURPRISE!!!”
“Happy Birthday!”
“I’m gonna kill you. I hate surprises.”
~kat
279 Characters

By Reena at ReInventions:
Make Space
“I like the idea of constructing something on a grave. It shows the world does not end – someone else will replace you.”
“Hmmm… thoughts of recently retired people….   Letz place flowers n leave…”
Dad died a day b4 my son was born. The tombstone carries a picture of his grandson.

By Graham at Graham is Just My Name:
The Mission
The winter air wrapped him in an icy embrace.
Shivering in his military overcoat, the cold night vision goggles cut into his face.
His eyes strained beyond the gravestones when he felt something and jumped.
“Woah!”
“Happy Halloween.”
“That’s not funny.”
“Cue graveyard cackles.”
“Idiot.”
(280 characters)

By Lady Lee at Lady Lee Manila:
Oh So Spooky
oh so spooky
as I entered the house rats dived
oh so spooky
then the front door shut as I plea
a foul stench came as I arrived
I fainted but then I revived
oh so spooky*
(162 characters)

By Suzette at Suzette B’s Blog:
A testimony to life
These pale stone tablets record individual lives lived.
Lives whose sacrifices taught us love and wisdom
These stones are both, a symbol of their entry into eternal life
and, a living testament to their wisdom and their love which will live in our hearts, forever.
Total characters: 280

By Di at Pensitivity101:
This Halloween the graveyard got its own back!
46 characters

By Regina at Help from Heaven:
The House in the Cemetery
Kathie hated visiting Aunt Betsy’s house. It was the only time she had “accidents” in the night. Mother told her that her cousins weren’t afraid to go to the outhouse. Kathie responded, “Mother, the ghosts know them, but they don’t know me. Who lives in a cemetery, anyway?”
(275 characters)

By Rugby at The Bag Lady:
See how the light shines on them? Think they’re special people under those stones? I mean like angels or somethin’?
Nah, just moonlight. That cross all by itself, weird! Wonder if that’s somebody rich. Stepping close, two boys sink into ground—laughter heard. Halloween prank done.

By Peter at Peter’s Pondering:
I warned them!
They had been practising the same song all evening.
I told the conductor that if I heard that song one more time they would regret it.
He just laughed.
He raised his baton, the choir took a breath and the first notes filled the air.
They’d all be singing a new song now!
(280 characters)

By Larry at East Elmhurst A Go Go:
Such an Offbeat Tryst
Every day Edgar said he met Lenore, his long distance romance. One day we, his friends, followed him. By long distance we assumed he meant fifty or so miles. Little did we know. He met Lenore at the local St. Casimir graveyard. She died in 1846. At least they’re happy.
(276 characters)

By Lisa at Tao Talk:
The Halloween Dance
She was dressed as a belle
Jimmy said, “You look swell!”
While she danced in his arms
Jimmy, bursting with charms
Laughing, led her away
Where the dark shadows play
When she told Jimmy, “No”
His strong hands grabbed her throat.
Once a year on this night
Bessy gives him a fright
BOO!
[274 characters]

By Kitty at Kitty’s Verses:
Eternal Learning
While alive,I sought the approval of family and friends,
Death taught me the essence of solitude,
Life ain’t about comparison, as much as it is about individuality.
162 characters.

By Willow at WillowDot21:
“Come on, we’re late! Cutting across the cemetery will save twenty minutes. I know it’s almost dark but I am more afraid of Mum than the dead.” James said jumping over the wall. “No” shouted Paul. James was home in 15 mins. Paul however was never seen again.
(278 Characters)

By Neel at Neel Writes Blog:
TIT FOR TAT
“I’ll send you to the cemetry”,  lashed Vikram over the phone.
His bete noire Indra replied, his voice matching in menace, “Yeah, sure, you swine. But before that, you need to be alive”.
A second later,  a bullet shattered his brains.
From across the road, Vikram smiled.

By Tessa at Tessa Can Do It:
Where In the Hell?
“Where in hell have we landed,” Ron asked Linda.
“I don’t know, you have the control in your back pocket. You must’ve hit the wrong button since it was pre-programmed with the next destination.”
“Joey, were you playing with this?”
“Yes dad, I thought it was my phone, sorry.”
271 characters

By Lorraine at Lorraine’s Frilly Freudian Slip:
Drop Dead
Bob declared, “Even if it kills me, I’m going to have an even more creepy, heart-stopping, scream-fest Halloween yard display this year than last.”
His neighbours agreed; Bob had really outdone himself.
“Too bad, though,” they said, “he had to die trying.”
255 characters

By Melanie at Sparks From a Combustible Mind:
Julia sat on her headstone. It was cold, but that was usual. Julia was one of a dozen spirits here who hadn’t moved on. She moaned softly, appropriate for today. Halloween. The veil would thin and her neighbors and she would dance in the moonlight among the gravestones.
(character count:  277)

By Jude at Tales Told Different:
They Come
The hour of hallows struck
moon, pale as shame
air redolent with decay
the leafless branches groaning and moaning laments of despair,
the night frozen, cold as rejection,
ghastly ghosts clawing from their graves
putrid with revenge

By Mike at The Bookish Recovering Know It All:
As the witching hour drew closer, he saw the headstones begin to glow with a preternatural light that he’d only seen once before. On the night of his own rebirth, 5yrs ago. Sod and dirt began to move. A boney hand reached up to take his. “Tag. It’s my turn now. Your time is up. ”
(280 characters)

By Sadje at Keep It Alive:
Now What
The equipment was in place. The night vision cameras were recording. She was besides herself with excitement. Time ticked on but nothing happened. “What is the meaning of this”the producer yelled “You said there would be ghost sighting for sure”
I guess they knew we were filming!
Character Count: 280

By Christine at Stine Writing:
The Halloween Dance
“Why’s there only one stone that’s a cross?”
“Who knows? Maybe this isn’t a real religious cemetery.”
“But aren’t they all religious in some way?”
“Sure but it depends on the religion. Not all religions want a cross, I don’t think.”
“Well, I sure wouldn’t want some plain old stone.”

By Jim at MindEscapes:
The Cemetery
Sally hated walking past the cemetery at night but sometimes life made it necessary. Like tonight, when she missed the last bus home. It wasn’t a long walk, just creepy. She was halfway past when the ground at the cemetery’s edge burst open and out poured a stream of ghosts. Boo!
280 characters.

By Kristian at Tales from the Mmd of Kristian:
Lonely Girl
She laid out the picnic cloth on the damp ground and passed around the victuals.
It wasn’t the place most people would choose to have a family picnic, among broken tombstones, many just about to keel over, but it was her family plot and she wanted her dearly departed around her.
[279 characters]

By Fandango at This, That, and the Other:
Bad Karma
“I don’t think I want to do this,” Al said.
“But it’s our Halloween tradition,” Ed said. “We pick a cemetery and tip the tombstones.”
“Did you read the dates on these? 1858, 1863. They’re really old. It just doesn’t seem right. It’s bad karma.”
“And karma’s a bitch, right?”
“Right!”
279 Characters

By Deb at Twenty Four:
They’d been standing here for hours, uncertain what to do next. The letter had told them to be there at midnight, that then they would be given the option to repent.
Then they would be free to go.
“What does it say again?”
“Matchbox car graveyard.”
“That’s what I thought you said.”
(280 characters)

Excellent round of tales this week! Thank you to everyone who took time to tweet! I hope to be back full time soon! Moving day is three weeks away! Hope to see you next week at the roundup! 😊