The Bells
The old man stands on the lighted stage, stooped and shaking. Others, mere knobby shadows, wait their turn in the darkness behind him.
The bells ring, and the man’s eyes begin to water.
For this weekend’s Trifextra challenge, the folks over at Trifecta gave us three words: ring, water and stage. The challenge was to add 30 words to these to write a story.
Check out the other stories and, of course, have a great weekend!
pinionpost 
I like this. It’s sort of open to interpretation in its vagueness…I took it grimly of course, heh.
He’s about to get hanged or otherwise offed, correct? I like it. Great visual.
I totally went the sweet way (of course) . . . the bells remind him on his newly departed wife . . . he is playing the bells with his granddaughter . . . he has something in his eye . . . lol see how my mind works? 🙂
An interesting end.. one can think of many possibilities of what happens next…
This is great Brian! So moody and ambiguous. And ominous. (Or maybe that’s just me!)
Brilliantly ambiguous and dark. Love, love, love.
I felt for him immediately and then wondered what was next. Well done! Thank you for linking up. ~Mary Beth
An end with so many possiblities … Cleverly done !
I also admit I saw the positive implications of this, perhaps a rite of passage. Glad we could give back just a little to what you have brought to us. Thank you for this.
I love how you leave the ending up to us.