In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that is told around a campfire. It can be a bonfire, burning trash can, a fire pit, something flaming outdoors. It can be a prop, and you can tell the story of anything — ghosts, ancients, jokes. Who is gathered and listening?
It had been an exhausting day, a lot of trekking, we were tired and thankfully the tour leader organised dinner. We sat and ate in stupefied silence as the night settled round us. My three other trekkers wanted to sleep. Seemed a reasonable request until we heard a roar like none we’d heard before. It was just off to our left. We huddled unconsciously closer together. The next roar seemed just beyond the circle of light from the fire. No one spoke. We looked into the dark. Thoughts of rest slipped from our minds. There was a collective gulp.
Written for: https://carrotranch.com/2016/11/18/november-17-flash-fiction-challenge/
Morpethroad 
…and then a single satisfied burp 🙂 Endless possibilities with this one!
LOL….yes the curse of 99 words…
I like it short and mysterious. Hadn’t realized the Carrot Ranch still functioned. WP stopped sending me notifications from it months ago.
Funny isn’t it I just discovered a week or so ago…I think 99 words lends itself to a lot of the mysterious..
I’ll try and find my way back to the ranch and read some of the entries 🙂
Oh, I do hope you find your way back to the ranch, Jane. I’ve missed your wicked turn on possibilities!
I will, now I know you’re still there! You went off radar months ago, or was I the one who went off radar?
Jane, you are definitely not welcome around my campfire with ideas like that 😀
Would you rather have had the sound of a large moist mouth being dabbed politely with a table napkin?
Nicely scary, Michael, BTW, are you in Morpeth Northumberland?
No I live in Australia, on Morpeth Road…NSW
Mmm, yeah, bit of a trek from where I had in mind 🙂
Suspense Michael! Terrific.
Thank you Di, have a lovely weekend.
Not the sort of fire one expects on a good trek! Your Aussie firefighters saved our hides in 2015 when I still lived in the inland Pacific Northwest and all was encircled. Great take on the prompt!
Thank you Charli my pleasure participating
Good one Michael. Don’t think I want to know what caused the collective gulp.
Hmm…impending doom??
quite possibly 🙂
Michael, you and your friend Jane are as bad as one another 😀
Campfires lend themselves to spooky and knee jerk reactions to noises in the dark beyond. Good one.
Tired they may be, but will they sleep now? lol Nice spooky little flash.
Thank you Deborah, they may take a little longer than usual to get to sleep…
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