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.
Photo by AlbanyColley at Pixabay.com
Starting us off…
The cards never failed the seekers who came to her for the Oracle’s message. Tonight, she needed a sign. But each card she turned bore the same ominous message. Frustrated, she tossed all the cards on the table. There he was glaring at her once more. Death coming to call.
(272 Characters)
From Michael at Morpethroad:
Pick A Card
With apprehension, I entered the fortune tellers booth.
She was shuffling the cards as I sat down.
Card one: death, card two destruction, card three chaos, card four disease.
She laid them in front of me
her eyes surveyed the four
shaking her head, she said
‘You’re in for a rough day.’
(280 characters)
From Reena at ReInventions:
Confidence
“Pick up any 3 cards to reveal your future.”
“I see my future lying in a heap there, as disorganized as your cards are. Each card sends a negative message. I refuse to accept it.”
“Some are positive. You need to try.”
“I will let them follow me into the future. They will choose me.”
(280 characters)
From Fandango at This, That, and the Other:
Mumbo-Jumbo
“I don’t believe in this crap,” he told the woman. “It’s mumbo jumbo.”
“It doesn’t matter what you believe. The cards help you to understand your situation and to take action based on what is known and what the cards show.”
She flipped a card and turned pale.
“What? What!” he asked.
(280 characters)
From Amritha at Igniting Hope:
Epiphany
Exploring old treasures, the twins stumbled upon a pack of cards in their ancestral home. The curious two pulled it towards each other in excitement. In this struggle of ownership, the tarot cards scattered on the table in a seamless pattern – indeed an epiphanic moment!
Character Count: 279
From Deepa at Sync With Deep:
Devil’s Due
Jack was a Goodwill Ambassador by dawn and Gambler by dusk.
One night devil invited him for High Card Wins game in his dream.
Riches for winning and soul for losing was the betting.
Gambler drew an ace and devil drew a jack.
Jack celebrated his victory but devil was all smiles.
Jack lost as playing with a devil is unpardonable.
(269 characters)
From Teresa at The Haunted Wordsmith:
Predictions
Keli knew they were nothing more than pictures printed on paper, but her crazy Aunt from the old country believed tarot cards predicted the future. That morning Aunt Olga cried because they predicted death. “Tornado Watch #271 in effect until 2 AM,” the weather radio announced.
278 Characters
From Kirst at Kirst Writes:
Wheel of Fortune
No, not like that. Handle them carefully. Don’t disturb the cosmic vibrations!
Oh come on, you don’t seriously believe…
Yes. Now concentrate. Which card are you drawn to?
This one… I guess?
Ah, the Wheel of Fortune. It signifies…
That I should go on a TV game show?
Ok, we’re done.
(277 characters)
From Piyali at Piyali’s Blogs:
Promise of a Soulmate
Aha, you drew out Two of Hearts! You’ll meet your soulmate soon.
How soon?
Um maybe in next 2-3 months.
She smiled, paid the gypsy woman, and left. Chemo isn’t working anymore, you don’t have much time left, her doctor had said. Nonetheless, the reading made her happy, momentarily.
280 Characters exact
From Indhu at Always:
The Murder
The Chief walked past the yellow tapes of the crime scene. This is the 3rd murder in 45 days.
“What’s the time of death?”, he asked. “Around 11 PM” said the coroner.
His eyes looked at the table tossed with tarot cards.
The Tarot Card killer!
He cursed the serial killer on loose.
<280 characters>
From Jan at Strange Goings On in the Shed:
Pick A Card
Which one do I choose?
Death: I can’t advise you, like I said, pick a card, soon.
I was never good at making choices. Used to drive my parents mad when they were alive.
Death: I know, they told me. (Rolls eyes).
That one.
Death: It’s Death.
Is that bad?
Death: It is for me.
(269 characters)
From Leena at Soul Connection:
Grown Up Kid
“Cm In My Child”
Follwng Voice She Wlkd 2wrds Table Wr Cards Ws Scattered
“Dis Is Ur Lyf.U Gng To Rule World”
She Smiled Bt Seeing No One Wlkd 2wrds Door
“WAIT.Bt Its Psbl Only If U R Almghty”
Cnfusd She TurnAround n Saw Her”Whn Wl U Behve Lyk Grwn Up MOM”
Lghng”Lyf Is To Njy.So NEVER”
(280 Characters)
From Hayley at The Story Files:
In The Cards
I shuffled the tarot cards, they would reveal my future but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. Taking the first ones, I made a cross shape then placed three on the right. I turned over all the cards and read what they meant. Seems the cards had read my mind; they told me nothing.
From Deb at Twenty Four:
He took down the next batch, laying them out with a swiftness which bespoke of years of experience.
People placed so much reliance in them but they were just cards and he got to proof each pack before they were dispatched.
He picked up the death card – it would be the death of him.
(280 characters)
From Willow at WillowDot21:
Pick A Card
“Who threw those cards down?”Gabriel was on the warpath again. Satan rolled his eyes why is that big galah always shouting? St Peter took in a sharp breath. God stood up and peered down to earth. “Well” he said loudly, “Someone will be playing 78 card pick up any time now”
(274 Characters).
From The Dark Netizen:
Tarot
His gun pointed at her, he emphatically asked her to predict her future.
She tossed the cards. The fool it was. He sniggered. At least her reading skills were true. He pulled the trigger. The gun exploded, sending the bullet through his head.
She smiled. He was the fool, not her.
Character Count: 278
From Peter at Peter’s Pondering:
Pick A Card
The muse had deserted him.
Over two weeks now, and still the creative juices were dry. What would they think of him?
In desperation he decided to visit his Tarot reader.
First – The High Priestess – Inaction – check!
Second – Page – mentally unstable – check!
Third – The Fool – check!
(280 characters)
What a great collection of tales we had this week. There is such diversity in your impressions of the prompt photo. So many stories in the cards. Thank you for participating in this challenge. You are the reason I keep coming back. I know I’ve said it before…it’s true…you all inspire me. Keep tweeting!
For this week we’re going abstract. Your inspiration is this photo by analogicus at pixabay.com of a chain. Now you could write about what is connected on the other end of the chain…or what got away. Or, you could take a philosophical approach. What does the concept of chains mean to you? Or if you really want to have some fun, write a first person account, in the chain’s own words, of what it is like to be a chain, tethering things against their will…okay…maybe that is a little far out there. Whatever you come up with it’s sure to be brilliant! Remember 280 characters or less. Have fun. And I’ll see you next week at the Roundup!
Twittering Tales #91 – Chains – 3 July 2018
Photo by analogicus at pixabay.com
Broken
There was a broken link in the chain. Everyone knew it; knew who it was, but calling him to account seemed an impossible task.
Meanwhile, order was spiraling out of control. Progress had been thwarted. He had friends in low places.
Could they trust the vote, their only hope? TBC.
(280 Characters)
~kat
like mercury colliding... 