Start your story with someone looking out a train window.

Posted in Middle School on Nov 1, 2022

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✍️ 98 stories

“A Splatter on the Tracks” by Kyle Quande

Submitted to Contest #168

His heart raced, "had anyone seen me?" But, of course not, he knew they hadn't; no one dares look at a fellow stranger on public transportation. So he sat alone, watching through the train's window as the sun rose in the east. He fiddled with a rubber band on his wrist. It had become automatic; he did it subconsciously. As the train began to move, he felt a touch of relief, but only a little. He was leaving the past behind him, yet he couldn't cease worrying it would somehow catch him, if not here, then later, perhaps at his next destination...

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“A Town with Many Secrets” by Brain Changer

Submitted to Contest #168

In March of 1901, the Durango train blew one long whistle as it chugged into snow-covered Silverton. Young minister Jonathan Farley analyzed the oily-haired gambler running his finger along the newspaper lines describing how Choynski knocked out Johnson in the third round. A faded green silk waistcoat under a pink dress jacket with shiny elbows hinted that he was on a losing streak. Farley wanted to save him from the gambling life. He followed the finger over the page again. Familiar with the game himself, he smiled at the skills of the smal...

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“Becca On The Train” by Mamode-Issop Emilie

Submitted to Contest #168

As the train starts moving, May looks out the window, her face growing pale. “Are you okay?” Steve asks, concerned, leaning towards her. “I-I think I ate too many strawberries…” she replies weakly, a hand over her mouth. Bucky closes his eyes, head shaking, unimpressed. Why did she eat so close to boarding? That appetite of hers… “Switch seats with me,” Steve offers, getting up. “You’ll feel better if you’re looking forward.” “Thanks, Stevie,” she manages in a weak voice. Bucky, worried, stares at May beside him, before f...

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“Sent to Nowhere” by Sarah Rich

Submitted to Contest #168

CW: References to violence, suicide, cannibalism, and threats of violence Darkness loomed with a foggy heaviness as Ander took his seat. The Night Train was meant for one thing and one thing only—a trip to Nowhere. He gave a sigh as he sat against the royal purple cushions in the bench that awaited his company. He glanced out the train window for a moment before adjusting the collar of his coat. Nowhere was a dreadful place that most criminals were sent to fend for themselves. It wasn’t a prison, but a ravenous, secluded town barred off ...

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“The Last Cartwheel” by Tyler Porter

Submitted to Contest #168

Dan Jackson watched as the dwindling countryside past him by just beyond the window as the train barreled down the tracks at fifty miles an hour. Chicago was swallowing up all of the natural beauty that was left around it and the city itself was swallowing its people. People died on the streets of that city every day. It was the norm. Everyone had accepted it. But Dan was not from Chicago. He wasn’t a member of their city. So, when his six-year-old son, Jason, was killed unexpectedly on those very streets four years earlier, he had not accep...

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“A Different Place and Time” by Alice Baburek

Submitted to Contest #168

A Different Place and Time The cars of the electric train shifted as it roughly switched tracks. Allen Foster jostled in the cushioned seat. His limited view through the dirty window became tiring, so he tried to focus on the blurry countryside speeding by. But the creeping migraine continued. Lights inside the locomotive dimmed. He sat alone. The constant humming from the racing train lured him to sleep, and before long Allen closed his weary eyes. Strange images of a small midwestern town formed within the...

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“The Absolutely True and Ghastly Story of the Brief Disappearance of the Gold Spike” by Thomas Graham

Submitted to Contest #168

This story needs only a brief foreword. It is a verbatim reproduction of a manuscript I recently found among the belongings of my third great-grandfather, James Finch. Finch was a journalist, and worked for several papers across the American West during his long career, including the Rocky Mountain News and Sacramento Bee. As far as I can tell, he was well respected in his time, and his good reputation in the profession continues to this day.**The view out the window was monotonous—a flat brown landscape dotted with sagebrush. In the crisp d...

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“Ascension from the Abyss” by Shawn Wier

Submitted to Contest #168

It's incredible, really. I know everyone says that because everyone should–a train that runs from Portsmouth to La Rochelle is nothing to shake a stick at. Trains I've been on in the past showed me trees, grasslands, and mountains whizzing by. The Sub-Atlantic Railway, however, shows me fathomless dark. It provides the eerie reflection of a mirror that sees further than the skin and into your own soul's abyss. Early in the trek, while the sun was still shining, I saw marine life like one can only imagine; in the first few hours of the tr...

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“Bringing Home the Boyfriend” by Charlie Bright

Submitted to Contest #168

Annie stared out the train window. There was a couple outside, enthusiastically reuniting after a long time apart. The man with curly hair and glasses had swept the dark-haired women off her feet, clutching her to his chest like he never wanted to let go. She smiled at their reunion—the desperate clutching, the whispering in ears, the blinding smiles… It was cute. “What are you looking at?” Kiyo asked, sitting beside her. He took a peek out the window too. “Oh. Ew.” She rolled her eyes. “Ew?” He nodded like she agreed with him. “Exactly. It...

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“The Princess of Armeada, Atlantis ” by Melissa Taylor

Submitted to Contest #168

I watched out the train windows as the city flew by and then became countryside. Miles and miles of nothing but trees. Leaning back in my seat, I closed my eyes. My head was throbbing. Thatcher had nearly caught up with me in the last city. I had gotten comfortable and stayed too long in one spot. Not that it was possible to ever be completely comfortable here in the Earth realm. As an Atlantean, coming to the Earth realm was strictly forbidden. Centuries ago, our kind used to travel to this realm regularly until it became clear that hu...

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“Love Shackle” by Sayonee M N

Submitted to Contest #168

The view from Pura Hill was unlike any other place in Bangalore. If the weather gods were willing, you could almost touch the clouds from the top. Cool breeze sweet notes, chirping birds returning to their nests, colorful hues of the evening sky, a guy kneeling down on his left knee with a ring in his hand…all wounded up in creating a magazine worthy shot.Seconds started to feel like an eternity when Samar’s girlfriend, Riya, stood in awkward silence without giving any response. Slowly, the fear of rejection replaced the hopeful smile on Sam...

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“Blackout” by Amalie Wad

Submitted to Contest #168

As the train was enveloped by the tunnel, the view from Linda’s window turned from a vast mountain landscape into a rough stone wall. Occasionally, a bright fluorescent lamp flashed by, leaving stripes of white light in their wake. For hours, she had watched the green countryside and the quaint little sugar cube farmhouses snugly slumbering beneath towering peaks. Rivers coursed like veins through the verdant scenery, their frothing streams speaking volumes of wilder nature higher up the mountain.Cows and sheep and horses were grazing happil...

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“LAST STOP” by Susan Catucci

Submitted to Contest #168

There isn’t anything more romantic or purely luxurious than train travel. I thought that. I used to think that. As I was growing up, I experienced that. As I stared out the train window, I searched my memory for why I’d thought that. I couldn’t remember. My mind was protecting me, I knew, because if I allowed my thoughts to focus, I’d come around to thinking about what I’d done, the mess I’d left behind.I didn’t dare look away from the scenery as it flashed by, lest anyone near me get the mistaken impressi...

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“My First Overnight Train Ride-1959” by M.D. Smith

Submitted to Contest #168

I was eighteen and heading home on the train from Charlottesville, VA to Huntsville, AL, for Thanksgiving, watching the autumn leaves pass. I’d enrolled in the University of Virginia as a freshman, and my father drove up there with me in my ’57 Ford Fairlane and flew Southern Airways back. Too long to drive for a brief holiday, I took the train. Looking out the window, watching the Virginia landscape roll past my window. The song, City of New Orleans, hadn’t been written yet (1970), but the lyrics would describe my first memories well. The...

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“End of the Line” by Kasie Gilbert

Submitted to Contest #168

The train car glitters with rain silently descending across its cold, metal bolts. Tonya leans into the arm rest and presses her cheek against the window, filling each drop with heavy thoughts as they cycle through her mind over and over again. Her eyes reflect dimly in the icy pane of glass, glossed over with specs of empty detachment. The noise of the engine humming underneath stole the silence like the sadness that robbed Tonya of her joy. What was meant to be a joyous return home in celebration of her sister’s first born was now a fragil...

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Start your story with someone looking out a train window.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 98 stories

“A Splatter on the Tracks” by Kyle Quande

“A Town with Many Secrets” by Brain Changer

“Becca On The Train” by Mamode-Issop Emilie

“Sent to Nowhere” by Sarah Rich

“The Last Cartwheel” by Tyler Porter

“A Different Place and Time” by Alice Baburek

“The Absolutely True and Ghastly Story of the Brief Disappearance of the Gold Spike” by Thomas Graham

“Ascension from the Abyss” by Shawn Wier

“Bringing Home the Boyfriend” by Charlie Bright

“The Princess of Armeada, Atlantis ” by Melissa Taylor

“Love Shackle” by Sayonee M N

“Blackout” by Amalie Wad

“LAST STOP” by Susan Catucci

“My First Overnight Train Ride-1959” by M.D. Smith

“End of the Line” by Kasie Gilbert

🌟 Similar prompts

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

Make a train station an important part of your story.

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

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

Contest #168

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

280

Contest entries

105

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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