Start your story with someone looking out a train window.

Posted in Middle School on Nov 1, 2022

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✍️ 98 stories

“Pixie Dust” by Hannah Cochrane

Submitted to Contest #168

Toni leans on her hand, staring out at the drizzly scenery whirring by. She’s been in the city for far too long and she’s been looking forward to this trip, to the countryside for months now, and the weather has the nerve to do this. This is supposed to be a fun trip, an adventure, boring at no turn. She watches animals huddle under trees, rainclouds get greyer and fat raindrops hit the window. Was that thunder? The door to her compartment flies open and slams shut be...

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“Dangan Ressha” by Javier Hanson

Submitted to Contest #168

(TRIGGER WARNING - VULGAR LANGUAGE, SEXUAL CONTENT)~The train lines of Rubico stretched outward in all directions from the center of the city, encapsulating the neverending stretch of boxy high-rises and one story whatever shops in a comically large spiderweb of public transportation. Even when it wasn’t night, it was raining, so the turquoise-glow of tracks buffeted everything below with its titanium shine. But if you played music in your headgear, you’d barely hear a cut of air pass above you, that is, if some homeless wasn't up in your ea...

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“Miss Delphia” by Connie Hieb

Submitted to Contest #168

Miss Delphia 10.15.2022 As I sit there waking up and looking out the train window. I suddenly realize I am searching, wanting to see anything that looked familiar. Nothing, not a thing, I didn’t know where I was or why I was on a train. I couldn’t recollect how I had even gotten there. Looking down at my clothes, I gasp. This is not what I wear, who am I. My name, I can’t remember even my name. Someone goes by and says Hi! Miss Delphia. That’s not my name, at least it doesn’t feel like it’s my name....

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“FAR FROM HOME” by Otieno Onyando

Submitted to Contest #168

On a different day and under different circumstances, Ross would have found the beautiful scenery of the majestic Polish alps endearing. The icy peaks of Tatra mountains with snow peacefully settling down on them would have made him take a picture to preserve such memories. But there was nothing about this day that he ever wanted to recall. He just wanted to go home. He missed the farm back in Oxfordshire, the cows, the sheep and the smell of the horse stables. Mostly, he longed for his family and friends.He looked at the mountains begrudgin...

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“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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“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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“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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“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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“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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“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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Start your story with someone looking out a train window.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 98 stories

“Pixie Dust” by Hannah Cochrane

“Dangan Ressha” by Javier Hanson

“Miss Delphia” by Connie Hieb

“FAR FROM HOME” by Otieno Onyando

“Home Again ” by Heather Sullivan

“Young Witness” by Joseph Monachino

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

“Children of the Dark” by Kevin Alphatooni

“Roaring Springs” by Lacey Hill

“One-way Ticket” by Crystal Gamet

“Tarnished Halos ” by Kimberly Walker

“Blue Trains and Yellow Diamonds” by Emily Bradburn

“The Thing You Become” by Yazmine Bennett

“MotherTrain” by BMac 279

“A New Life” by Alejandra Mora

🌟 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 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: