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.
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!
And REMEMBER…you have 280 characters (spaces and punctuation included), to tell your tale…and a week to do it. I can’t wait to see what you create this week.
Starting us off…
It seemed to be the perfect hiding place. The thief lowered the satchel of cash into the sewer drain. He would retrieve it later.
Then the rains came. Days of rain. The sewers overflowed into the streets.
When the thief returned for his booty, a group of detectives was waiting.
~kat
277 Characters
From Reena at ReInventions:
Who forgot to place the lid?
What will emerge now – a deep secret, a can of worms, reverse flooding? It will be fodder to Peeping Toms and Idle Minds. Curiosity makes you a business target.
I guess it was a deliberate move. Some people feed on dirt, and make money out of it.
(274 characters)
From Michael at Morpethroad:
The Dot
The dot had been there a long time.
One time the council had redone the path which meant under protest from the locals the dot had been ripped up.
Strangely the next day the dot was back.
Was it alien?
Was it a sign from on high.
Either way, you got a right jolt if you stood on it.
(280 characters)
From Willow at WillowDot21:
More Things That Go Bump in the Night
Marly watched as the drain cover opened. A man, or was it a woman emerged. The whatever it was did not seem happy. Cocking his head to one side Marly wagged his tail hoping that would endear him. Gabriel was not to be won over though. Satan’s laugh could be heard in the distance.
(280 characters)
From World of Wellness:
A Tale of 2 Cities
Susie hailing from Texas had just completed the worlds longest underground drain pipe exploration. She was thrilled to find herself in London.
She was upset that the media had ignored this adventure of hers. It is not often that a cockroach survives a transcontinental exploration!!
character count: 279
From Cara at Midnight Musings:
Cherry was horrified at the thought in her mind. If she put Myron out the airlock, she would be free forever of his threats. They were the only two living beings on the spacecraft; there was no jury to convict her.
“But I’d know, and living with it would drive me mad,” she mused.
From Peter at Peter’s Pondering:
The Rose grower’s curse
I’ve got it again, I’m fed up!
What’s the matter now?
That horrible disease that spoiled all my roses last year is back again!
I thought you sprayed them, and cut back the worst affected.
I did, but just look. It’s on every rose and has even spread to the pavement.
Bloody black spot!
(279 characters)
From Fandango at This, That, and the Other:
Hiding Place
Jack looked at the storm drain, at the narrow gap between the sidewalk and the street. He saw an orange glow, but there was no flickering, so Jack eliminated a sewer fire.
He walked over, squatted, and peered inside the gap. He was surprised to see Donald Trump hiding down there.
(279 characters)
From The Dark Netizen:
The Drain
He walked silently in the darkness.
Having memorized the location of the drain, he found it easily. Once the lights came back on, they would find him. He slipped the packet into the drain and quickly walked away. He was caught soon.
He would die, but the resistance would live on.
Character Count: 279
From Deepa at Sync With Deep:
Corporate Sewer
I’m dreaming of
a clear water stream,
greenery kissing the earth,
songs of birds in the fresh air,
a serene place to live.
concrete and steel
replaced the trees
corporate sewer line
covered the natural stream
noise of vehicles
ousted the song of birds
my lungs now, frantically looking
for fresh air!
(246 characters)
From Anurag at Jagahdilmein:
The Hiding Hole
The sewer was safe now, there were no more rats left there. But THEY didn’t know that, and so this was the safest place for him.
He opened the manhole cover, and got in.
Then, he started playing his pipe again, and as the kids followed him underground meekly, he shut the cover.
278 characters.
From Deb at Twenty Four:
He had set his chair on the sidewalk and waiting,
His patience was renown.
He watched as they passed by,
Consumed by thoughts of their own.
He hadn’t expected a long wait,
And his wasn’t disappointed.
She tripped and fell on the eve of the first day,
He filed the lawsuit when appointed.
(280 characters)
From Piyali at Piyali’s Blogs
The Secret Cult
After stepping on the asphalt, the hitchhiker quickly combed through the deserted area and paced down the sidewalk. On reaching the spot, he checked the contents in his satchel-vials of blood, a human skull, and some ancient manuscripts.
“Hail Satan!” A voice cried from the sewer
279 Characters
From Amritha at Igniting Hope:
Inside the Tunnel
“Food reserves are adequate. There is a connection between these tunnels in case of emergency”, boomed the army chief as the rat army was ready for war. A deaf rat got caught in the enemy’s trap in lure of cheese.
“Oh I cannot move on without my grandfather”, rued little Stuart.
280 characters
From Jan at Strange Goings On in the Shed:
GPS
What do you mean the GPS gave the wrong directions!
Look, those are the co-ordinates.
We’re in a sewer, and something’s touching my tentacles.
Just be thankful we didn’t go into a black hole.
We did. You should have checked the map beforehand.
There was no need.
Are we there yet?
No!
(277 characters)
Good ones this week everyone. As always, thank you so much for taking the time to tweet a tale. We are at week 99! Can you believe it? I surely can’t. That is a lot of tweeting…and a lot of tales told. Though I wouldn’t even presume to assume that, even combined, our tales could ever rival the twittering tales that come from a certain reality star gone political who shall remain nameless! haha!
I headed back to pixabay for this week’s photo by Conquero. It could be a dream or a nightmare. Or it could be a tale about a horse. You decide. I’ll see you at the roundup…yeehaw!
Twittering Tale #99 – 28 August 2018
Prompt photo by Conquero at Pixabay.com
It was 8.3 on the Richter scale. The town had never experienced an earthquake. Fracking had rendered the bedrock unstable. Aftershocks sent herds of wild horses and other animals through the center of town. The worst was yet to come. No one would live to tell, when the dam broke.
~kat
(280 Characters)
like mercury colliding... 