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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

“Home Again ” by Heather Sullivan

Submitted to Contest #168

TW: murder, suicide, reference to drugs, foul language Lily had absolutely no desire to ever return home, it held too many memories that still haunted her to this day, but here she was at the Richmond Amtrak station getting ready to board a train destined for Jacksonville. “I don’t know why I even bother thinking Rachel will be around when I need her, she never has been in the past,” Lily mumbled to herself as she found her seat and settled in. “I know going home is hard for both of us but ...

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“Reading time can be talking time (if it’s the right person)” by Varsha Palani

Submitted to Contest #168

Katya “Should I not interrupt your people watching?” Henry asked. I took out my other headphone and turned away from the train window. “I’m not people watching.” “Hm, actually, I agree. You’re person watching, aka that poor girl you keep stalking but never actually talking to, idiot.” I pouted at Henry, but he merely lifted an eyebrow. “Tell me I’m wrong,” he said. I groaned and turned back to the window. He clicked his tongue. “Exactly.” “She’s cute, okay?” I demanded. “She’s cute and I can’t just approach a person who’s innocently waitin...

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“Children of the Dark” by Kevin Alphatooni

Submitted to Contest #168

Shadows moved beyond the glass, their features difficult to delineate from the surrounding darkness. Unable to take my eyes off of them, I strained myself to see what they were doing. What were they up to? What were they going to do next? They danced and swirled about, forming their own, unpredictable saga. I barely noticed the static noise coming from the intercom above the door behind me, but it was there, amplifying the whole mystifying experience in its own subtle way. Time fluttered away, stolen away by the whir...

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“The Thing You Become” by Yazmine Bennett

Submitted to Contest #168

With the city sprawled before her, she tried her best not to let the tears fall. She was finally here, the capital city, but it was never how she had imagined. How did it turn out like this? Her dream of living in the capital with her family was ruined in an instant. She knew she couldn’t think like this. She had to be positive she had to live on for them. The train was pulling up to the station, so she wiped away the last of her tears and captured a screenshot of the city out the window before heading for the platform. She had never seen an...

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“La Petite Mort” by L.J Sunwing

Submitted to Contest #168

A buzz echoes in an empty hall with the smell of formaldehyde and sulfate filtrating in and out of the rooms like an unsettling, invisible haze. Every room of the building was dark except one, of which two individuals sat with computers lit on each trying to finish paperwork before going home for the night. Truthfully, this conversation would be better had outside of the walls of the workplace, but secrecy and illicit affairs rarely allowed that. It was a small coffin for the little death of them both. “I wish I never met you,” the gi...

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“About Face” by Cindy Hammonds

Submitted to Contest #168

His thoughts were like the light dappling through the trees, wavering, just out of focus. He felt certain if he could just make one connection his path would become clear, just as the dense forested path he was running had opened into a peaceful sun-filled meadow. He certainly hadn’t planned to take on a father role but then he never figured on a car crash leaving him without a sister and his nephew without parents either. What the hell was Cari thinking anyway. She knew I was a loner. Running had become Jake’s drug of choice since his disch...

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“Ziggy Stardust” by Sammy Courtney

Submitted to Contest #168

The move has been okay thus far. I’ve only been here for about a week, and although I still have much to adjust to, I feel like I am slowly, but surely, getting acclimated to this way of life. In this stage of life, one can only feel nostalgic of the good times past. I miss my friends. Now we are all dispersed around the country, and a few still at home. I remember when Bowie would say how excited he was to go to college together. How we would play sports every day, like we did during the school year. How we would go to parties and hook-up w...

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“A Change of Plans” by Elina Nikol J

Submitted to Contest #168

Emmalee sat in The Green Goose, her favorite local coffeehouse, waiting for her boyfriend, Michael, to arrive. An hour ago he asked her to meet him there, said it was important and couldn’t wait. As she nursed her flat white, she thought about the future. Everyone wanted to know when they were getting married—they’d been dating six years—and maybe this was it. A bit weird, but Michael wasn’t a romantic. She complained to her friends about it, but they didn’t think it was that big of a deal. The same went for Emma’s longing to return to the...

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“The Mission” by Aaron Tippit

Submitted to Contest #168

They got off the plane with only carry-on baggage. This was going to be a one-night trip. They headed to the rental car counter in the small airport, rented a cheap sedan on a government credit card, and went to the exit. Grimes inhaled deeply as he stepped through the doors and smoothed on his beret. He looked up at the other man, from the patent leather shoes up his blue trousers to the dark blue jacket and the captain bars on his shoulders. He was smoothing on his own beret. "Ready, Sergeant?" Captain Owens asked. He didn't smile, but h...

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“The Engineer Sisters” by Tanya Humphreys

Submitted to Contest #168

The young boy sat slumped on the bench outside the train station. He sat in between a hatless man dressed in black, and a large scruffy tan and black dog of many breeds. The boy did not look up as a whistle blew. The man stood up, tall and straight as a flagpole. Over the white collar he wore, he forced a smile to his face, the deep lines at his eyes crinkled with kindness. He bent and took the boy’s small hand in one of his large, knobby knuckled ones and gently pulled the boy up. The dog looked up towards puffs of pale...

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“The Last Train South” by Alistair James

Submitted to Contest #168

I was cold and tired; like painting with numbers, I was living by numbers, one job at a time, one day at a time. Inverness Station matched my mood. It was dark and cold, its outlets long closed for the day. I spotted one platform still lit for access. The overnight sleeper for Euston, London, was getting ready for departure. I swiped my mobile at the gate and boarded. Ten minutes to go. The sleeper compartments were all booked, and I had no choice but to reserve a first-class aisle seat facing the direction of travel. I was at the front...

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“The Dawns Call” by Emily Westcott

Submitted to Contest #168

Winter crept in through the old master’s window. He hadn’t noticed, but soon found out. Sharp needle like frost crisped round the edges of the old stone walls, creating a prison cell, while the old man dreamt of warm fires, and toasting bronze goblets filled with rum, which burnt the tongue with the sweet richness of Spring. The wind howled through the castle window. He hugged the sheets closer to his body. It’s warmth had shielded him all night from the frozen air. If he had the choice, he would of stayed in the comforts of the shee...

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“Running in the Mist” by Gabriel Hildreth

Submitted to Contest #168

The glass was cool against my forehead as my thoughts were drawn to the reasons for my journey. The red seat was nicely cushioned, though my fingers endlessly twirled the single loose string the way my mind came back to my family and friends. The same people I had fought with and the others that I had been tangled up in. It was strange how they seemed to be with me wherever I went. I was on a train headed towards Geneva Switzerland, having spent the last two months up in the mist-covered mountains. Ridges and trees blurred together in...

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“Memories of Home” by Sharika Mandyam

Submitted to Contest #168

Memories of My Old Home I remember. I remember the delicate song the birds used to chirp. I remember the way the bells used to ring through the streets. I remember the laughter of children and the sound of their feet running after school. I remember the baker’s sweet face and the desserts he gave us for free. I remember the kids jumping into the lake, swinging on the rope tied to the old oak tree. I remember the quaint cobbled streets and the brightly painted, small townhouses. I remember playing hopscotch with the other kids, trying...

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“A Baysie Boy. ” by Julie Grenness

Submitted to Contest #168

Zane stood on the train platform. Six o'clock, long summer hot evening. He has some smokes, and a six pack of bourbon and cokes. Nice and chilled. He had lived in Baysie, a dull suburban wasteland. It was like a desert of empty shops and closed cafes, bounded by a freeway and a railway line. Baysie station was the end of the rail tracks. He clambered aboard the train to the Big City. He was finished with Baysie, leaving it all behind. He was going, finally. No more dole money, no more pregnant girlfriend, or his fighting family. Zane was tu...

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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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