From The Ashes

Credit Pexels via James L - https://lydialukidis.wordpress.com/fallwritingfrenzy-2025-rules/

By moonlight, and the glow of the campfire ahead, the boys crept through the woods. They stopped before the clearing.

Joe’s voice shook. “Brian, are you sure you want to do this? What if they come after us?”

Brian untied a bag. “Look, Joe, we didn’t spend the last week scourging the woods for these snakes only to give up now. They’ll never know it’s us.”

“But then, what’s the point? They’ll keep teasing.”

“That’s the entire point. We’ll have video of them freaking out that’ll make them a laughingstock, and we won’t be blamed for it.”

“Fine, let’s get it over with.” Joe pulled a speaker out of his bag and searched for a file on his phone.

Brian placed a plastic pumpkin over his head and put on his leather gloves. He handed Joe a flashlight. “Keep this pointed at my back so they only see my silhouette.”

He pulled the snakes from the bag and said, “When I get two feet away, start the recording and shine the light."

The next morning, searching for the missing boys, police sifted through empty sleeping bags by the firepit. From the ashes, a melted pumpkin stared at them.  

This rather short piece of writing was limited to 200 words. Based on the image, I wrote what I could. It's for a contest called Fall Writing Frenzy. It's a lot of fun.

#FallWritingFrenzy hashtag

@KaitlynLeann17

@LydiaLukidis

@kaitlynleann17.bsky.social