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Suitcase in hand, you head to the station.

Posted in Adventure on Aug 1, 2021

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✍️ 187 stories

A DAY IN CROWD

Submitted to Contest #47

Men, women fingered at you, you never turned back. You looked up, walked straight without blinking your eyes for a moment. It seemed you had indomitable vigor. You painted a camel on a paper and stuck it on your suitcase. And soon after, you headed to the station, you walked alone on your bare feet, holes in your pant, dirt on your shirt and the suitcase in your hand. Awaiting there under the fiery sun, you saw people had already occupied the benches. After waiting for an hour, you got a place to sit on a bench.The crowd somehow managed to a...

27 likes 9 comments 9
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Familiar Beginnings

Submitted to Contest #47

The smoke billows up in black, peppery clouds of noxious stench. It’s a reminder of how bleak today is supposed to be. You don’t care. You feel like a weight has been lifted off your chest. An odd sense of relief washes over you. A father should feel guilt and regret when leaving his family. You don’t. Your small, brown suitcase is worn with overuse. Its small, black handle provides some form of comfort to your trembling hands. Being kicked out by her is the worst feeling in the world. “Marco, you horrible, useless, ...

25 likes 4 comments 4
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A mother's story

Submitted to Contest #47

Everyone was busy walking fast carrying bags in their hands, but you were not walking. You were sitting on the bench with a suitcase at platform number 10. Because that's what the message said so. Your eyes were busy with noticing everyone, and you were fidgeting your fingers nervously. A drop of sweat was forming on your forehead, and your heartbeat was beating fast. The sound of your fingers tapping on the case was going unheard. The five million dollars inside your suitcase was gone unseen. No one noticed you, but you noticed everybody. Y...

25 likes 8 comments 8
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Plan A

Submitted to Contest #47

Suitcase in hand, you head to the station. At least, that’s the plan, as you lock your door behind you and walk to the car. Perhaps you should call it Plan A. It seems like most of your plans these days change often, sometimes daily.You open the trunk, toss in the suitcase, close the trunk and get in the driver’s seat. Then you can’t help yourself; you look at the passenger seat to your right. The seat where Jinny used to sit. It’s empty now, of course.Taking a deep breath you detect a hint of Grasse Jasmine and May Rose, bringing along whis...

25 likes 15 comments 15
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Singing the Blues

Submitted to Contest #47

Suitcase in hand, you head to the station. Now normally a person doesn’t carry a suitcase, not any more. Today all the suitcases have wheels and a handle you click on to make it pop up. You are carrying yours, because it’d make a lot of noise rattling along behind you, jouncing up and down on gravel or loose dirt, getting caught in a crack. Mostly what bothers you is the jouncing it might do, because suitcases are meant to be lugged, dragged, sworn at. Some even get set at a bad angle and plop! they fall over, then you have to set them up ag...

23 likes 24 comments 24
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In the Dark of Night

Submitted to Contest #47

Have you ever left in the dark of night, with nothing more than a suitcase in hand, heading toward the station, so to speak? You might have left to hop on a bus, or on a train, or you might have driven away in your own car. No matter. The train was leaving the station and it was abundantly clear it was time for you to go. Despite the circumstances surrounding how you leave, for some of us, there are happenstances in life when we have no choice but to leave, suitcase in hand. I do wish for you, dear reader, that you've never ...

22 likes 10 comments 10
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The Conscious Decision

Submitted to Contest #47

           Suitcase in hand, you head to the station. After almost one year of planning, hundreds of emails, phone calls, and some up-front expenses on your part, it looks like the day has finally come for your high school reunion to happen.            You were wise to have it take place in a central location since many of the alumni have now spread themselves out across the globe, and it would be difficult for everyone to return ho...

22 likes 2 comments 2
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Socotra Island

Submitted to Contest #47

After hours of searching the internet highway and a pint of 190 proof vodka I decided upon traveling to Socotra Island, Yemen. This appears to be an ideal location for me. It was separated from mainland in Africa more than six million years ago, that remote island looked like the set of a sci-fi film. Socotra’s incredible and unique biodiversity meant that there are plants and trees there not found anywhere else in the world, particularly bizarre are the ancient and twisted dragon’s blood tree and the bulbous bottle tree. I quickly called ...

22 likes 1 comment 1
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Control

Submitted to Contest #47

Suitcase in hand, you head to the station feeling your anxiety subside. You finally left him. Not just him, but everything else that you had built for so long. You were leaving behind everything that you had been taught, learnt and experienced. For anybody else it wouldn’t have been this hard, but for you it was psychotic. You disliked anything new, or change. You liked a routine. It kept you calm. Kept you from having a break down.            Becoming an orphan at such a young age, life...

22 likes 4 comments 4
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Getting Better

Submitted to Contest #47

Suitcase in hand, you head to the station. Today is the day, the day that you are finally leaving. It was easy getting out of bed this morning, so much easier than it usually was. Usually, your morning ritual consisted of dragging yourself from bed and dragging your feet to the kitchen where a small breakfast was eaten. You drug yourself around, getting ready, preparing yourself for the undoubtedly dreadful day ahead. But it was different now. You were finally leaving. Today was goodbye. Goodbye to all the past mistakes that would now be era...

20 likes 2 comments 2
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The Suitcases Made it Possible

Submitted to Contest #47

                                The Suitcases Made it Possible          The other day you, my dear reader, listened to an exciting story about my lawyer friend Rahim. You burst out laughing while listening. Today you’re going to listen to another exhilarating story about a dramatic incident that happened to my intimate friend Bimal, a pro...

19 likes 0 comments 0
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The Family Crest

Submitted to Contest #47

One hand to the mirror, as if placating the glass for the intrusion, you carefully prod the bruise on your cheek. Briefly, you wonder if you can truly cover it up with a mere smattering of Foundation. Your hand pauses, gently probing the purpled skin. It is a Coat of Arms, you realise. A Crest. A Crest crafted of darkened lilac hues, blooming like an oxbow lake over your freckles. Perhaps your freckles are the reason he did this. After all, you’ve never liked them either. The mirror offers you a skeleton girl with sunken cheekbones crown...

19 likes 2 comments 2
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CAKE ALONE

Submitted to Contest #47

“Desperateness has one closest friend that has never yielded any juicy fruit apart from obliteration”. “You must get down!” Danda, the director of PPC Company shouted angrily. “You are not in your best mood now. Kindly let me drive you home. I know a man called Ex-Man; he will certainly help us track this criminal down”, Joe suggested. The following morning Ex-Man was invited to the office. “You are welcome to my office, says the director. As I was checking your success record, I confirmed that you have been among the top intelligent office...

18 likes 6 comments 6
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Empty Nests

Submitted to Contest #47

She didn't walk me to the station to say good bye and give me a long, warm hug and tell me how much she would miss me. In fact, she practically shoved me out of the house, slamming the door behind me and leaving me standing on the porch, suitcase in one hand, alone in the light rain, mist coating my hair and face with tiny droplets of water. My hair hung in loose tendrils over my face. The station was only a few blocks away, easy enough to get to, and I guess she assumed I wouldn't mind walking. She wasn't wrong, but I wished she had offered...

18 likes 8 comments 8
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The Grand Old Lady.

Submitted to Contest #47

There is a puff of smoke in the distance, I hear a rumble along the tracks, then the whistle - a warning that a train is approaching. At the bend in the track I see the outline of the approaching steam train. She is beautiful and majestic and her driver is proudly leaning out the window. A smile on his face.  Along the platform the passengers chat about the trip at hand. It will be a week of chugging through the forests, up into the mountains. Stopping at villages and admiring breathtaking scenery. Everyone wants to remember this histor...

18 likes 2 comments 2
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