The Friday Fictioneer Challenge: Write a 100-word story based on the photo.
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Waiting for Dawn
Tom looked at the clock and groaned: 3:18 a.m. No sleep tonight. Again. Sleeping in hotels – or trying to sleep in hotels – just didn’t work for him. Too many lights that couldn’t be blocked out, too many noises that couldn’t be softened.
He got up and looked out the window. A busy world existed in the night’s darkness, he knew, just outside the light’s reach, just outside his reach. He acknowledged it, but didn’t understand it, didn’t want any part of it.
Getting back in bed, Tom pulled the covers up. 3:23 a.m. Closing his eyes, he waited for dawn.
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To read other Friday Fictioneer stories based on this photo, select the smiley blue frog.


I’ve stayed at that hotel. I couldn’t sleep, so I read your all-too-true tale. 🙂
Nights at those hotels are all too true all too often.
I need my wife snoring next to me in order to sleep, though I’ll never tell her that.
A perfect match, you two.
This captures those sleepless nights perfectly Tresha.
I have so much trouble sleeping in motels… totally felt Tom’s pain.
You really captured the feeling of not being able to sleep. And I wonder what kind of nightlife he’s imagining.
I have nights like that at home!
Don’t we all, from time to time!