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

Posted in Narrative on Nov 1, 2022

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✍️ 58 stories

“Going, Going, Gone.” by Raffik Lopes

Submitted to Contest #168

The smoke permeated everything. Doors opened. Then shut. The conductor stomped by, his shell-toed shoes banging down like a gavel as he flogged his feet down the stairs, judging every last one of us – the final car passengers imprisoned on his train. The A/C rattled above me (I was sitting right below the whole unit) like a pair of keys that I heard clanging from the conductor’s hip, and it seemed to have the paradoxical power of blowing not just cold air but his hot breath straight into my face. “Hey! Can you read? That seat’s taken!” the...

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“Unscheduled stop” by Hazel Turner

Submitted to Contest #168

The train lurched to an abrupt halt. No screaming, no squealing of brakes, no almighty bang. None of the chaos or bedlam you’d imagine if you were in a rail accident. Just an unexpected, unusual, unscheduled and, for some, bloody inconvenient, stop. “Déjà vu” I thought, memories of a younger me flitting by as if someone had hit the rewind button on an old video, pausing for a moment on a delayed train journey in the past. On that occasion, a neighbour had kindly offered to pick me up at the station. As I made my way onto the platform clutchi...

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“Ash and Silence” by Paige Ladd

Submitted to Contest #168

The silence bothered me. The gloom gathered more thickly, and her breathing became more labored. If I told her to take the rag from her nose and mouth, she would bring ash into her lungs with each breath. Although we held hands, the sweat of our palms made the grip slippery with mud. The powdered rock continued to fall, and though it was mid-day, all signs indicated it would get worse.“Pliny,“ she said huskily, “You must go on without me. Your survival is all that matters. I promised your father.”Beneath her coating of ash, I knew that her s...

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“Train Ride to New Life” by Valerie Preston

Submitted to Contest #168

Chugga chugga, chugga chugga and then a sharp toot pierced the quiet air. Her head bobbed up and down as it slowly drooped, as if hypnotised by the sound and rhythm of the train. She felt herself dozing off until the horn sounded. Barbara turned and looked out of the dusty window, not knowing if the train stopped at the next station or keep going right past it. She didn’t know which stations were for pickups between the beginning of her journey and the end of it. It didn’t matter to her. This was a train journey from one life to another. Wh...

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“Moving On” by Ky Lee Fong

Submitted to Contest #168

On the way to the station, the bus rocked down the path of stones and stomped-on twigs and the house with the brick-red roof. There was no one on the porch waiting to see the bus pass, waiting to glimpse Anna’s face in the passing windows, no light or hole in the curtained windows. Beside the curtain stuffed into the side of Anna’s seat, her one eye turned. She dropped the curtain, frowning.She passed 99 Speedmart, green, a copy-paste of a heartless franchise, but misty with the memories of running in and out as children. On mornings when sh...

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“Moving on” by L.L. Williams

Submitted to Contest #168

Claire had been dreading this day for weeks. She knew what she had to do, but that didn’t mean she wanted to do it. But she had promised herself that today was the day. Today was the day she would tell her husband she was in love with another man. Claire was headed to their standing Tuesday lunchtime date. She drove through town, gripping the steering wheel tight, leaning forward, and taking slow deep breaths. She wasn’t paying attention to the radio, or else she would have heard that her favorite song had come on. “I can do this,” s...

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“Ephemerality ” by Wyatt W. Krauklis

Submitted to Contest #168

This story is dedicated to the idea that one day I’ll get on that train, and I’ll go far far away.Beta read by my russian mother herself, she approves.I live far away from my friends. I have the tendency to visit my friends. I miss who I was before I grew up.The grass couldn’t be mowed that year because the old man doing it was horribly sick, he’d gotten a severe infection of his airways so he was staying at home so he wouldn't exhaust himself trying to fix up the big field. Normally they would assign someone else to mow it but because it wa...

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“Shattered slippers” by F.O. Morier

Submitted to Contest #168

-"I think about Cinderella so often." she starts. - "Cinderella? I ask. "Yes, that girl with the glass slippers." She fills me in. "I know that fairy tale," I assure her, and I leave out the fact that I know the original version too. - “Cinderella." she muses. -"That climbs depressingly." I say. -"It was." she confirms, "but it took me forever to realize that." -"Do tell." I ask. -"I always had to tiptoe, taking very careful steps so that my glass slippers wouldn´t break." after a short pause, she adds: "It's so hard to walk on broken ...

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“Never Again” by Cole Leigh

Submitted to Contest #168

TW: this story is based around a relationship containing domestic abuse. He gripped my wrist, tighter this time than he has in the past, “How many times do I have to ask you, Dana?!” He yelled, eyes so wide and bloodshot, they looked like they could pop out at any time and land in the glass of water I was trying to hold in my left hand. “Where were you, and why were you out so late?”I could smell every little bit of alcohol as each word was leaving his mouth, and I just kept telling myself I’ve dealt with this before, and I can do it ag...

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“Final Train To Nowhere” by Rick Story

Submitted to Contest #168

Final Train for Nowhere Sitting next to the window, I glanced down at my I-Phone 13 Pro Max, it reads 1522. I’ve still got 8 minutes till this thing is supposed to pull out, I’m not what one would call, confident in this train’s punctuality. Amtrack, not known for being timely. This day is an exceedingly overcast one, with thunderclouds gliding through the air, they dump heavy downpours on the entire area. Normally, there are very few days of rain, at least, not the day-long kind. But quite a bit of my life has been filled with thunderstorms...

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“On to the Next Stop of Life” by Rebecca Benjamin

Submitted to Contest #168

Estelle Trivett was your average teenager. Long black hair with jet black headphones to pair with whatever is in the laundry basket today. Today was one of the worst days of her remaining life. Her mother had decided that they are moving from California to Texas. She of course knew this would happen someday, just not this soon. Estelle watched as her mom and her uncle put various furniture into the moving truck. There’s a law in California that a C class license could drive a certain size of moving truck, so it’s not going to be done...

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“Familiar Strangers” by Emily Bishop

Submitted to Contest #168

The buildings were an imposing wall, blocking out the view of the next street over, their tops sharp and angled as they scraped the slate gray sky. They loomed all around the train, like doleful canyon walls scrutinizing a snaking basin river, but Diana Carmichael had to wipe the tears from her eyes and the fug of her breath from the window to see them at all.She had never ridden the train before. It felt strangely cathartic, like a baby being rocked to sleep after a terrible crying jag. Steel on steel rumbled beneath her feet. The train’s j...

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“A Stray Deer” by Calvin Pepper

Submitted to Contest #168

She’s keeping the dog. Not that I really want the dog anyway, he’s ten years old and practically a walking corpse. I wouldn’t even know where to keep him, I’m staying in a one bedroom apartment on the south side of town, no pets of course. They haven’t noticed the fish tank in the bathroom though. I turn out of the neighborhood, no one in sight. I always forget how lonely it is this far out of town. Maybe my drive will be accompanied by a stray deer, or some redneck driving way too fast, swerving in and out of the lines. I try not to dwell ...

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

Submissions are closed

✍️ 58 stories

“Going, Going, Gone.” by Raffik Lopes

“Unscheduled stop” by Hazel Turner

“Ash and Silence” by Paige Ladd

“Train Ride to New Life” by Valerie Preston

“Moving On” by Ky Lee Fong

“Moving on” by L.L. Williams

“Ephemerality ” by Wyatt W. Krauklis

“Shattered slippers” by F.O. Morier

“Never Again” by Cole Leigh

“Final Train To Nowhere” by Rick Story

“On to the Next Stop of Life” by Rebecca Benjamin

“Familiar Strangers” by Emily Bishop

“A Stray Deer” by Calvin Pepper

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with someone looking out a train window.

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: