Twittering Tales #162 – 12 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 #162 – 12 November 2019

For this week’s photo by rawpixel at pixabay.com you are challenged to fill in the word cloud. It can be a 1 word statement, or an entire conversation. Keep your tale under 280 characters and be sure to link it to this post so I can find it when I put together the roundup. Have fun!

Photo by raw pixel @ pixabay.com

No Words

Communication class assignment: Spend an entire day without speaking. Find alternative ways to communicate and record your observations.

“So, how did the day go?” the professor asked Team 1.

Each team member held up a blank cardboard word bubble.

“Clever!” the professor mused.

~kat
274 Characters

Twittering Tales #161 – The Roundup

Photo by Michael Gaida @ Pixabay.com

Starting us off…

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

By Lorraine at Lorraine’s Frilly Freudian Slip:
Hallelujah Chorus
within rusting walls of an abandoned factory
he fashioned a stage from wooden pallets
shafts of dust-specked sun the afternoon spot-lights
in his post-apocalyptical opera house
sang wordless arias to audiences of bats, rats, spiders
they applauded; feeling, not sound, the joyful noise (280 characters)

by Neel at Neel Writes Blog:
TIME TO EXIT
Jolly loved the spotlight.
In her mind’s eye, the world was her stage, its denizens her subjects.
That was before the accident.
Before the amputation, before the death of her dreams.
Jolly tightened the noose.
She heard the applause.
It was time for her to take a bow.

By Fandango at This, That, and the Other:
The Blinding Light
Chilled to the bone, he started to gather branches from the warehouse floor to use as kindling to build a fire. When a blinding light shown down directly upon him from a high window, he thought it was a godsend. But it was a beam from an alien ship and he was instantly vaporized.
(280 characters)

By Jan at Strange Goings On in the Shed:
Fallen
Things don’t turn out well for this fugitive.
Menhit knew her trail of bloodshed would eventually end. But, she hoped not like this. The Fallen who rejected sanctuary were condemned to death. There was to be no exception. So be it. The Light burned with a pain that was searing. “No reprieve” were the last words she heard.
(277 characters)

By Larry at East Elmhurst A Go Go:
Ring A Ding Ding
Tom, a Sinatra fan, worked alone in a warehouse. He took advantage of his breaks by perfecting his lounge lizard routine. Crooning to an imaginary audience, he traded barbs with invisible Sammy, Joey, Peter, and Dino. All went well until one very scary moment in the spotlight. (280 characters) 

By Tessa at Tessa Can Do It:
Lights in the Night
Hearing helicopters in the distance prompted Ron and his family to move quickly for shelter. The graveyard was too open.
“Do you think they know we weren’t terminated Ron,” Linda asked.
“Well, the fact that the gold also disappeared may have been a hint. Stay out of the lights!”
278 characters

By Lakshmi at Mukhamani
The emptiness in his life troubled him.
He was always searching. He knew something special was waiting for him.
That morning the abandoned theatre had pulled him. There was chaos everywhere. But the light streaming down filled him with light. His search was over.
He exulted in joy.
(280 characters)

By Jude at Tales Told Different:
(I’m posting…though this is a bit over the  280 character limit ;))
Grief delved into his darkest essence,
and there it awoke evil, wicked with revenge
Those thieves had plundered his house,
desecrated his treasures
befouled and besmirched all he held precious
but worst of all, they’d taken his wife,
and with her, his life

He tracked them to that warehouse,
straddled by rage and armed with hate,
compulsed to destroy!
And as the light dawned upon his brutal carnage,
he stared and yelled into its mocking facade,
for all stayed dark within his heart,
and revenge left only tears and a void he could not fill

By Haley at The Story Files:
Piercing
It was fun to mess around in the abandoned factory. There were holes to jump, beams to climb and ‘treasures’ to be found. They were playing there when the Earth began to shake, white beams pierced down from the sky and everyone started disappearing.

By Rugby at The Bag Lady:
Action!
The light’s too bright, I can’t even see the floor!
That’s the point, Bob, you’re supposed to be in a trance! Didn’t you read the script?
You only provided the audition page. I don’t know what my character’s motivation is.
Uh, Bob, I don’t think you’re right for this. Next!

By Sadje at Keep It Alive:
“I’m here” he shouted loudly. There was nothing in response. He stood up and shouted again, “I am here. Now what am I supposed to do next?”
Just then a shaft of very bright light entered the deserted building.
He felt himself being sucked towards that alien light.
Character count: 263

By Willow at WillowDot21:
It had been six weeks since the invasion.Dan had been living on his wits traveling by night hiding by day. He had been on his own since day nine. He had seen the factory from the road and decided to camp there a while. It was about 2am when the beam struck. He could hide no more.
(280 Characters)

By Reena at ReInventions:
have you ever been there
where you wanted to be
then hated it?

have you ever been caught
indulging in a
secret rendezvous

wanting to be
in the spotlight
then caught unaware

have you ever welcomed
help out-of-the-blue
with gratitude

have you ever felt
warmth of light
where ignorance dwelt

By Graham at Graham is Just My Name:
I’d worshipped her from afar until she consented to my company, and gave up everything to be with her.
I arranged the visit to the great shaft of light and stood in the shadows while she bathed in the spotlight.
Then I grew out of that delicious infatuation and never saw her again.
(280 characters)

By Di at Pensitivity101:
Neil stood on the stage under the spotlight, spread his arms wide and starting singing When You Wish Upon a Star at the top of his voice.
137 characters

By Peter at Peter’s Pondering:
The Health and Safety inspection for the opening of the new children’s dance studio wasn’t going well.
Everyone thought somebody else was going to organise the clean up.
Someone would be in deep trouble!
Who was responsible was anyone’s guess.
I’m sure somebody knows.
I don’t. Do you?
(280 characters)

By Jim at MindEscapes.net:
The factory where Drew worked already had several safety complaints this quarter. The frayed load straps that caused the large slab to fall would be yet another.
This was the third workplace death this year but it no longered mattered to Drew. Heaven welcomed him home.
268 characters

By Deb at Twenty Four:
He had stood in the light with his arms wide, embracing the moment. He had really felt it and given it his all, but they wanted more.
Disappointed Lewis scratched his head, how was he meant to act like it was an alien abduction when they wouldn’t even wear the mask he offered.
(277 characters)

By Kitty at Kitty’s Verses:
Contrasting Stark
With nothing, I embark,
Biding time while it’s dark,
Whatsoever, I’ll make a mark,
Making a circle from an arc,
Umpteen people to remark,
About my lack of spark,
Please stop and hark!
You’ll be surprised with the contrasting stark.
226 characters.

By Kristian at Tales From the Mind of Kristian:
A Sudden Sun
For a century they’d lived underground, since the nuclear disaster that blocked out the sun nearly destroying everything.
It took all his bravery to climb up into the ruins. Suddenly, the wind made the window curtains wag. Then, for the first time in a century, the sun shone.
[277 Characters]

I enjoyed your tales this week, even if we did get off to a rocky start. Inexplicably, the WordPress gremlins shut off comments for the post. Sorry if you were inconvenienced. Once I realized what had happened, I made a quick chat appeal to the WordPress support line. They were very helpful, walking me through the process to restore comments. But by that time, several of you had already written your tales, ping-less tale at that! I visited several of your pages to see if you had written a tale for this week. I am sorry if I missed you. Please let me know, so I can feature your tale in the next roundup. As always, thank you so much for participating. See you again next week!