Start your story with someone sitting on a crowded train and end it with them looking out over beautiful natural scenery.

Posted in Spring on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 258 stories

“2021 ” by Link Arneson

Submitted to Contest #90

A year ago, I might have been shoulder to shoulder with people, a backpack in my face or hot breath on my neck, stretching my arm up to grab the strap on the rail for stability. Now, I wear my mask and sit in my own seat, four or five feet away from other passengers. This is rush hour; the train is only half full, and it still feels like too many people. Someone gets on the train and sits in the seat directly behind me. Shots shots shots, I tell myself as my world starts spinning. You have all your shots. You’re fully vaccinated. My...

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“Jed's Things to Avoid in Life” by Ell Peck

Submitted to Contest #90

Jed didn’t do relationships. That was just one of his rules. Actually, it had become such an important rule to him that he added it to his very official, highly scientific List of Things to Avoid in Life. They were too complicated, and the touchy-feely stuff usually left him feeling inadequate about his ability to be there for someone. He also just didn’t have the time, with his fifty-hour work week and all that. So not wasting his time trying to care for another person, especially considering that they’d probably notice pretty quickly how l...

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“Family Hacking” by Philip Ebuluofor

Submitted to Contest #90

She had been sitting on that crowded train for almost two hours now with her two kids listening to the chattering of the passengers mainly women, waiting for the train departure. She cast her mind back trying to recall how it all began that led to her sitting on the train bound for East. She noticed that it had been smoldering for almost four or three years now, she have even forgotten the exact day and issue that led to the first shouting match. She was wondering the type of power or is it influence that; family, kin and siblings has ...

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“To The Edge: Point of No Return” by Aisa M

Submitted to Contest #90

When you board the train bound to The Edge, that means you are on your way to the ends of the Earth with very little to no chance of going back to where you came from. That means you signed up for a sort of exile or banishment or death. No one ever has come back from The Edge. And I don’t think I will be an exemption.***I sit on a small cabin of a train where there are about thirty passengers. I think the area is suitable only for about fifteen. People who boarded found their place on the floor. Some are standing, leaning on the locked door ...

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“Ballad of the Anti-Hero and her Girlfriend” by RIC .

Submitted to Contest #90

“God we’re packed like sardines…” Eriko muttered. The train was packed to the brim with people trying to get out of the city. It wasn’t like most times where they were just trying to get away from a giant superhero fight. No, today was just… nice. It was in the 70s and the clouds were few but fluffy. If a supervillain decided to launch whatever evil plan they had must’ve stopped because today was just that nice. &...

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“All Aboard” by You'd Think A Writer Would Have A More Creative Name .

Submitted to Contest #90

1328 wordsRated PG; violence, blood, unsettling imageryPrompt: Start your story with someone sitting on a crowded train and end it with them looking out over beautiful natural scenery.Author's note: I played around with several of this week's prompts, but ultimately decided on this one as the other stories weren't dark enough.One year I have been here. I pass out drinks and I clean sandwich crumbs. I smile at the passengers and bow to them as I shine their shoes. I give them napkins if their children dribble water or orange juice on their sh...

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“Stupid Metal Devices” by Berri Liman

Submitted to Contest #90

Life, seen from the dog's point of viewThese days humans never go anywhere without their silly metal devices. They stare at the tiny squares and are aware of nothing but whatever's going on inside the screen. I've seen humans take pictures, make video calls, do something they call "texting", take notes, watch videos, share things, play music, and play games on it. Basically, a device that holds everything you can imagine. They barely play with us anymore.Today is Friday. My owner and I are walking to the train after a workday, and as usual, ...

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“Destination Mind” by Patrick Druid

Submitted to Contest #90

Panting for breath, I ran through to double doors of the city L train just before they closed and a grabbed on to the nearest handle available and held on to it as the engine cranked to life and I, along with the rest of the passengers on this sort of grungy conveyance with half broken seats and musty windows felt the ourselves swaying backwards as the the train lurched forward. "Excuse me" I mumbled to the gentleman to my left after I bumped into him. The other man grunted from underneath his small tweed hat which he had pulled downwards,...

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“THE BUCKET LIST” by Chaitra Barli

Submitted to Contest #90

“hello, hello yes mom I caught the train” “Mom I already had the reservation , I don’t need to search for a seat.” “yes, I will call you when I reach .” akash hung up his phone. But he found it filled with people sitting even on them. when he looked around he confirmed that train is packed even in reservation compartment. He looks exhausted , it is middle of summer and Indian summers are too much heat. “I should quickly get to my seat”, he thought to himself. when he found it he saw a middle aged woman sitting there with a little boy. On one...

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“Nature isn't homophobic” by Flyx H

Submitted to Contest #90

My head rests against the frosty cool glass as I stare at the scenery that passes, it's nothing exciting, just tall city towers, towering over the train tracks. The train of which I sit on with nothing but a small bag of my belongings next to me. With music blasting in my ears to block the outside world out, my mind wonders, thinking about, well, everything. From where I'm going to where I was, where I never plan to return to, 'home'. My 'home' wasn't your typical home, you know, with a loving family who had dinner every night at a ...

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“Thunderstorming Picnic” by Mila Van Niekerk

Submitted to Contest #90

Thunderstorms are actually pretty cool, as long as they stay a safe distance of one hundred kilometres away from me, Darren Barlow thought as thunder rumbled in the distance. He was sitting in one of the small, cramped carriages of the five-p.m. train. Squashed to his right was an old lady knitting a sweater and to his left a redhead girl in an incredibly elaborate black prom dress and a sour expression, who looked like the type of person to flip over the coffee table after losing a game of monopoly.If there had been a table in the carriage ...

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“The Reunion ” by Aditi S.K

Submitted to Contest #90

My head drops and my glasses slide off my nose. I start sliding down and I can feel my legs stretching forward. My neck hurts but I know its not because of this position. Hours of studying, and tutoring is the reason for the constant soreness in my neck. I feel a cold hand on my back and I suddenly jerk up. The hand withdraws quickly, as if scared by my sudden movement. A pair of twinkling eyes meet mine. Next to me, an old Chinese woman, wearing a red sweater is holding a cane for support. I can feel the heaviness in the air. T...

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“The commute” by Sue Catrama

Submitted to Contest #90

Just like every week day of the past 30 years Eric has stood at the platform anxiously checking his watch. When he heard the roar and ding of the doors opening he hoped with every aching swollen joint that he would be seated during the hour commute. Eric stood trying to stretch the kinks out of his back and hold on to the handle at the same time. He was grateful to be taller than most as his nose was not forced into another armpit, or inhaling cologne splashed upon someones neck that soap has clearly not touched in far too long. What kept hi...

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“A Letter in a Sandcastle ” by Serine Achache

Submitted to Contest #90

Dear A,I’m writing this letter in the back of our last month’s electricity bill –the one I have yet to pay –on the arm seat of a train to Oran, and by the time it reaches you, there will be many borders, many languages, an ocean and a sky separating me from you.I’ll be a life away from you but right now, I’m still on the M-O12 train, still a few stations away from the place we both called home, holding nothing but my old black leather purse and Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous to keep me company. It’s what actually sparked in me...

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“Journey to Earth's Heaven” by E.C. Nickelson

Submitted to Contest #90

He took his seat and waited for the long black hunk of metal and gears to start on its journey. He was a people-watcher rather than a social butterfly, so that's what he did. He watched people, observed them. "Stop that, Mylo! Miranda, don't even!" He heard a blonde mother reprimand her blonde children."Mary! What're you doing, Darlin'? We're sitting..." The man was cut off by the dark-skinned conductor."All aboard!!! Train leaves in three minutes!""We're sitting here, not in the next car, Mary!" He watched as the red-skinned man took her sl...

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Start your story with someone sitting on a crowded train and end it with them looking out over beautiful natural scenery.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 258 stories

“2021 ” by Link Arneson

“Jed's Things to Avoid in Life” by Ell Peck

“Family Hacking” by Philip Ebuluofor

“To The Edge: Point of No Return” by Aisa M

“Ballad of the Anti-Hero and her Girlfriend” by RIC .

“All Aboard” by You'd Think A Writer Would Have A More Creative Name .

“Stupid Metal Devices” by Berri Liman

“Destination Mind” by Patrick Druid

“THE BUCKET LIST” by Chaitra Barli

“Nature isn't homophobic” by Flyx H

“Thunderstorming Picnic” by Mila Van Niekerk

“The Reunion ” by Aditi S.K

“The commute” by Sue Catrama

“A Letter in a Sandcastle ” by Serine Achache

“Journey to Earth's Heaven” by E.C. Nickelson

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story that weaves together multiple lives through their connection to a particular tree.

Write a story in which an endangered species (of plant or animal) plays a central role.

Set your story in a world living with the consequences of a climate apocalypse.

Write about a community that worships Mother Nature.

Contest #90

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

814

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

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