5 Sentence Fiction: Lightning

'm joining 5 Sentence Fiction with Lillie McFerrin Writes today.

What it’s all about: Five Sentence Fiction is about packing a powerful punch in a tiny fist. Each week I will post a one word inspiration, then anyone wishing to participate will write a five sentence story based on the inspiration word. The word does not have to appear in your five sentences, just take your inspiration from that word. 

This week’s inspiration word is: LIGHTNING

Six months into the Gallipoli campaign, dysentery and a monotonous diet forced men to spend hours perched over makeshift latrines and due to recent sniping in the area, orders had been given that men must attend the latrines in pairs.

Consisting of a long, narrow pit with an A-frame at each end supporting two long poles, the lower pole was used to ‘perch’ on with one’s nether regions hanging over the back, and the higher pole, which ran across the middle of the perchee’s back, was there to stop the hapless individual from falling in.

On this night, Guy Atherton found himself in the unenviable position of being asked to accompany Caruthers to the latrine (everyone else in the Mess Hut had taken care to avoid this request as Caruthers had a habit of squatting for forty minutes whilst keeping up an endless stream of small talk punctuated by groans, splashes and grunts).

The night was stinking hot and humid and the stench arising from the latrine was almost indescribable forcing Guy to hold his sleeve over his nose and yet Caruthers squatted there serenely, his posterior glowing white in the moonlight, seemingly oblivious to the smell and the flies.

Just then, an almighty bang shook the earth around them and the sky lit up phosphorescent white, Guy threw himself to the ground only to realize within seconds that it wasn’t a Turkish shell but a lightning strike just a few feet away; Caruthers, to Guy’s amusement, was no longer perched on the A-frame.