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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#168: Choo Choo!

The concept of train travel has always been a powerful motif in story telling. Train wagons can be a great setting for serendipitous love encounters, like for Jesse and Céline in Before Sunrise, or mysterious murders, like in Agatha Christie's classic Orient Express.

On a train, the mind wanders, time shifts, and life… unfolds. We hope that these train-inspired prompts will put you on the right track to writing some great stories.

This week's prompts

Start your story with someone looking out a train window.

Middle School – 98 stories

Write a story about a character who is moving on, literally or figuratively.

Narrative – 58 stories

Make a train station an important part of your story.

Narrative – 74 stories

Write a story about a character who misses a train, for better or worse.

Adults – 33 stories

Write a story that includes someone saying, “Bon voyage.”

Adults – 17 stories

Stories

“Haste” by Tomris Qaradagli

Submitted to Contest #168

Come on, Wendy thought desperately, her boots pounding against the concrete sidewalk as raindrops flew around her. Thunder shook the world and lightning slashed across the sky as Wendy shivered from the cold. As she pulled her coat closer to her soaked, shaking body, she glanced down at her watch and looked at the time. I have two minutes to get there, she thought with determination. I have enough time, I’m sure of it. I can make it. Two minutes to get to that blasted train station. Two minutes to make sure that blasted girl didn’t leave ...

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“Luck” by Anna Frayer

Submitted to Contest #168

“No, no, no, no, no!” Jack cried, the panicked desperation in his voice rising with each word as the train chugged out of the station in great white clouds of billowing steam. He ran along the platform, arms outstretched as if he might catch hold with his fingertips, but it was already out of reach. “No!” he screamed once more, this time in anger, and pulled up short where the platform dropped away. He snatched the hat off his head and twisted it in both fists as he watched the train disappear around a bend, taking with it all of his dreams....

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“Dreams of the Dark” by Angie King

Submitted to Contest #168

“Time for school Sam”, his father yelled up the stairs. “You don’t want to be late again do you?” “No dad”, Sam sluggishly replied as he stumbled down the old creaky stairway from his room in the loft. Sam rubbed his eyes as he took a big yawn, displaying his exhaustion. “Another bad night's sleep?” his dad questioned with an eyebrow raised. “Yeah, I guess”, Sam replied, not wanting to say much more. He hasn’t slept much lately, especially the last few nights; tossing and turning in his sleep due to similar recurring dreams ...

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“A Distant Evidence of Company” by Chichi Anz

Submitted to Contest #168

Every window is a plasma screen, through each a display of my time with you shows. But your goodbye stabs, in the most emotional way. Only a distraction can heal this leftover feeling of heartbreak. Maybe I'm overthinking this. Maybe I should if I want to find some kind of peace tomorrow morning. Same as her knowledge of me. We both know I hate, despise, detest to wake up with anger. Put a muzzle against my temple, and I'll still give the same annoying answer. I'd rather be empty or feel that way.But you’re also that dist...

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“Young Witness” by Joseph Monachino

Submitted to Contest #168

Billy looks out of the train window. He sees what appears to be 2 animals, one on top of another, fighting with each other. But is it really 2 animals? --- Billy and his mother, Maggie, are taking the train back to their hometown of Hinesville. The train is moving along smoothly, but then it abruptly starts slowing down and eventually stops. When the train stops, Billy turns his head and looks out the window. It appears that 2 animals are on top of each other playfighting. Billy has a smile on his face because it...

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“Roaring Springs” by Lacey Hill

Submitted to Contest #168

I startle at the train whistle, and it pulls me away from people watching through the window. I look over at Callie and see that she's still reading her book. Typical. Anything to distract her from who we're traveling to see. I never thought I'd return to Roaring Springs, Colorado. There's a good reason for that. I was nine years old when I witnessed my mother try to kill herself. It was warm that evening, the kind of night where the wind feels perfect and the fireflies light up the dark. As I sat on the porch steps that night, watching t...

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“One-way Ticket” by Crystal Gamet

Submitted to Contest #168

Black smoke fills the air. Squeeks of the brakes shut out the sound of the world. My heart throbs. This is the moment I had been waiting for, my independence. I am finally taking the train to Chicago. My stomach is in knots. I am so excited for the adventure ahead but scare to travel on my own. I Graduated from high school last week, and this is my first taste of freedom. I have done everything by the rule book straight-A student, Cheerleader, homecoming queen, valedictorian, and so on. I feel like I have been living out everyone else’...

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“Tarnished Halos ” by Kimberly Walker

Submitted to Contest #168

Although fiction, this story contains murder, rape, and suicide.Tarnished HalosWhy do I keep torturing myself week after week? Sitting here staring out the window as this train slowly rips me away from my comfortable place. All four decades of my life have been spent in Saint Andrews. First, a choir boy, then an altar boy, and four years of seminary school. The obvious next step was the priesthood. I've always known that I was destined to be a priest like my father, his father, and so on, four generations back. I have loved my pari...

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“Blue Trains and Yellow Diamonds” by Emily Bradburn

Submitted to Contest #168

I watched out the window as the train wound through the lush winelands like a brilliant blue snake. Further ahead on the track, a tunnel stood with a gaping mouth ready to lead us into the vastness of the Great Karoo desert. Our starting point, Cape Town, now lay far behind us. I turned my focus from the golden framed scenery to the ipad on my lap, scrolling idly through an email that outlined my work assignment. I preferred to sit back and relax, but it always helped to be extra prepared. An older gentleman, who had claimed one of the plush...

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“MotherTrain” by BMac 279

Submitted to Contest #168

The young girl looked out the window of the train and wondered when she'd see something other than a gray cement wall. It had been eleven years. But that was life on MotherTrain. Ever since The Event, no one was allowed to set foot outside the train. What was The Event? No one knew. That was the story that had been told to them. By whom? No one in particular. When children were old enough to read, they were given an official-looking piece of parchment, complete with a stamp of the MotherTrain Community logo (a locomotive with a heart), o...

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“A New Life” by Alejandra Mora

Submitted to Contest #168

The man sat slumped over, his head in his hands. Is he tired, overworked, angry? I wonder what he is thinking. Does something trouble him? Is he on his way to work, or perhaps he has no job and just received another rejection, no career, no life really.But I would never know the answers to my questions, because in a flash the man was gone and I am immediately left looking into someone else’s eyes. A girl with wild hair, pleated skirt, backpack a lot of bright makeup. Who is she? Where is the train taking her today? High school? College? What...

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“Kyrie Kicks Back” by Michael Jefferson

Submitted to Contest #168

“Did you bring my medication? It’s time for my pills.” “Yes, mother,” Marshall Destry answers wearily. “…As if you even know what you’re taking…” “What? Speak up. You mumble all the time these days.” Lifting her head from her cushioned seat, Rosamond Destry looks out of the window. The scenery blends into a blur as the train speeds along, its whistle blaring loudly. “Where are we?” “We’re on a train, mother. We’re going to your new home.” “Where’s Inka?” “Inka’s not your nurse anymore. You’re going to have a new one.” Rosamond’s tir...

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“Secrets Untold” by Acorn Gaffer

Submitted to Contest #168

The glass was misted over, the cold night air causing small water droplets to form on the freezing window. It served as a mirror, the darkness outside too thick to form any visage, only showing the ghost of a reflection. Green eyes flickered down from the train window to the book in his hands. As one within a Swoon Goes safely-- where an open eye Would drop him-- Bone by Bone Poetry; Always did it have a place in his heart, despite not having the mind for it. ‘Til now, that is. Now, the black ink seemed to drip from the yellowed page, ...

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“The Slowing Sunset Sweetly Marking Anew ” by JOSLYNN SARE

Submitted to Contest #168

Vivid colors in the slowing sky perform a dance of ancient tradition for my sullen eyes. The sunset's bright oranges blend with its reds and yellows, like a bouquet of flowers tossed about the clouds. Tracks beneath me pace a steady click, clack, thunk, paving the way for inconsistent, hazy thoughts. I lazily rest my chin atop curled fingers, as my mind begins to slow with the rhythm of the wind.Interrupting my tranquil thoughts, clashing with the peaceful scenery are the many passengers within the jolting cart. Passengers who irk me in ways...

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“The Au Pair” by Carrie Sheldrake

Submitted to Contest #168

Carla sat with her head resting against the window of the train, her right hand under her chin – supporting her head – and her left, holding a worn copy of Call Me By Your Name. Her mind, wandering in and out of reality, may have forgotten her destination and considered that she was travelling to or from university (as she had done so often the last three years), had it have not been for her large, red suitcase that was pressed up against her knees. She was travelling from her home on London’s outskirts, into the centre of the city – to the ...

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$250

Prize money

280

Contest entries

105

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 21, 2022 EST

Won by David Sweet 🏆

Title: SOUTHBOUND

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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