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

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 258 stories

“Train to Pikeville” by Sinria Lee

Submitted to Contest #90

Here I am again. The same too small, compact cattle truck. The same horde of half awake, half dead creatures in ties and rough jacket arm in my face as its wearer reads a ‘daily times’ that needed a small rainforest to construct. The same squeak of shoes on the paving slabs, the same slurps of coffee and crunch of breakfast burgers it killed your stomach for you to walk past because the part of your brain that drags you through it all knows the queues are too long. The man in the middle of the train with both arms up on the railings hasn’t s...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Varnished seating” by Wiktora Zatorski

Submitted to Contest #90

Wheezing, she finally got on the train. Body contorting so as to land unto a seat as quickly as possible, her body slumps on a seat as soon as it lands on it. Soon every other seat and every aisle became filled up to the maximum carrying capacity, many people squeezing the air away from the train. As it becomes more filled, she releases her last wheeze before the train's whistle roars to life. The train's whistle roars once more as the train chugs away from the station. Turning her head to look outside the window, she sees the bright flashes...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Train of Fault” by Chloe :)

Submitted to Contest #90

It was a dark morning, the smoky factories releasing gas like a breath too heavy to keep in. It made a light fog across the whole area, the smaller buildings obscured from view. The mighty skyscrapers still show their light and pointy ends that dare to touch the sky with the threat of lightning. The colors of the city are always dull unless you find your way to a club or a graffiti alleyway. I watch the scenery zoom past, like panels in one of those old mickey animations. Someone in the booth in front of me was whistling so it made the exper...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Breath In” by Sam Ackman

Submitted to Contest #90

She sat with her belongings stuffed in a bag beside her, swaying gently from side to side with the movement of the train, staring out the window. The train stops, doors open. The great exchange of people. Conversations buzz. Doors close. Jackline looks out over the city as the train zips along. A million speckled lights multiplied by the rain droplets building up on the window. She watched as the droplet came together and streaked down the window, matching the tracks down her chee...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Until Tomorrow” by Jaithri K

Submitted to Contest #90

23 December 2019Hold on…please hold on….just a little farther…By an Olympic second, she managed to sprint past the closing glass doors and ran headfirst into the most luckless random stranger of the day. The New York subway was jam-packed, disappointingly without any literal jam in it. If she’d been Gretel right then, she was fairly certain she would’ve eaten the witch along with her gingerbread house. Nudging her way through the crowd, armed with “Coming through!”, “Sorry!” and “Excuse me”, she stumbled to an empty seat. Settling into the s...

4 comments 4

Read story

“My Better Days” by Sylvia Asante

Submitted to Contest #90

"Thank you," I said with a smile to the gentleman who adjusted his seat so I could sit in the crowded train. The Easter holidays just ended and everyone, including me, seemed to be heading to the big city, for work was calling. I am currently the advertising manager of one of the top fashion brands in the world. Many people came to Greenville to spend time with family. I, on the other hand, came to remember them. Studying the different types of passengers, there were some bickering about how awesome the holidays had been. Others just stayed ...

5 comments 5

Read story

“In the arms of golden grass” by Fresh Start0

Submitted to Contest #90

I unfurled the rough beef sandwich. I felt the crust with my finger. it was cold. the way I liked it. I sniffed the bread. the beef aroma filled my nostrils. it smelt terribly of home. and mama. tears started to bubble in my eyes. "are you ok?"it was a boy two seats behind me. he had a sticky finger up his nose while sucking his upper lip. he seemed to be eyeing up my beef sandwich."go away" I hissed, hugging my beef sandwich of home."no need to be like that"the boy pulled out his finger from his nose and wiped it, luxuriously, on a gir...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Nature heals” by Poojya Agnihotri

Submitted to Contest #90

Walking down the railway station amidst the hustle bustle of the festive season was a tedious and terrific task. Being blogged by people , pulled ,pushed and squished in different angles was how i entered in to my train. Seeing the scenerio of the train a sigh escaped my lips. It was no less than a crowded street at times of festivities where you don't even have space to place your foot on the ground. Being pulled and squished again . I muttered few incoherent curses under my breath . I walked over to the exit again to get out but seems like...

0 comments 0

Read story

“All Change” by Pete Duffield-Fuller

Submitted to Contest #90

Everything looks fragile in winter. Fulsome trees shrivel into dry, skeletal things. The grass and flowers and weeds are crystallised by frozen dew drops. They look so brittle, as if they could shatter at the merest touch. But I love this time of year. The air feels so crisp and clean and new, the cold so frigid it burns your cheeks. The spell is broken, though, by the time I’m waiting for my train back home from college. I’ve lost all feeling in my toes, which are numbed senseless by the cold in my new shoes, already splattered with m...

1 comment 1

Read story

“I Ask Myself Why” by Maria Moore

Submitted to Contest #90

I sit upon this trainAnd stare out the window,As the gray high rises flash by,Making me ask myself why;Why do cities have to be so noisy?Why do people want to live in such places?Why would they opt to breathe smog, choked air?Why, when they could live anyplace, but there?Every day I see the same people, though I know not their names,Nor do I ask. They are strangers to meAnd I to them. I ask not, because they will never want mine.And I have to ask myself why.Why are there some that say, “You should not talk to that person,Because you don't kn...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Elsie's Return” by AddieD ❤️❤️

Submitted to Contest #90

Elsie Bridger looked out the train window. The normally beautiful scenery was a blur of green, blue, and white, quite an unbecoming combination. The train was going to the West, the land of promises, of mountains, of prairies, and deserts. None of which Elsie particularly liked, but she didn't get a choice. She was riding on an orphan train, a train that would bring her to a family looking for a child to adopt. Elsie was eleven, as well as three other girls on the train. They all shared a small room with three bunks, a washstand, and a sma...

3 comments 3

Read story

“Confidence” by Mahita Ghattu

Submitted to Contest #90

Confidence ~ By: Mahita Ghattu I’d always wished someone believed in me. It was always my friends or my family making fun of me. Sometimes I feel like I’m lonely. I just wish that someone would support me. “Sorry coming through,” A boy said, pushing me to the side. I got shoved into another person, and they got shoved, and then another, and another. This was the most crowded train in all of America. We all fell neatly like dominos. And this happened again and again till everyone was off the train. I walked out of the t...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Memories Remind me of the wind ” by Layla Koontz

Submitted to Contest #90

Memories remind me of the wind. The way it comes and goes, having such power and boldness but pausing whenever it decides to. Never allowing any force to override it’s decision, wind comes. Whether it would be a refreshing breeze or a dangerous storm causing nothing but destruction, wind always comes. On this particular day, I was battling a dangerous storm full of memories and no matter how hard I tried to ignore them, there force overrode my mental strength. I looked around; however, I did not see the present, I saw the past. I did not see...

1 comment 1

Read story

“The Girl in Wedding Dress and Sneakers” by Hill De Guarde

Submitted to Contest #90

People are bewildered as they look at me— a passenger boarding this train with my wedding gown and white sneakers. Random hair strands escape my updo caused by what happened with my scheme being the runaway bride. Well, my hair still looks decent, though.Some fail to be discreet and whisper their murmurs a bit louder. Can't blame them, it's not every day you see a bride wading through a crowd and boarding a train off to who-knows-where. Well, I might look weird with my choice of outfit for today, but I get lucky someone has given up his seat...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Leave Me” by Aida Fakhry

Submitted to Contest #90

“Liaya?” I try to whisper as my tears fall to the collar of my tuxedo—I fail when I hear pleading screams echoing through the speeding train. My lungs collapse, and my heart sinks to the pit of my quivering stomach. They couldn’t have gotten to her. Where are the police? Where is my fiance? I hear gunshots flying across the train as I hold on to the pillar. My knuckles turn white against my bronze skin as I bite down on my lower lip. My nostrils flare, and the intoxicating scent of flesh and blood and gun powder fiddle with my nostril. I gri...

0 comments 0

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

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

Spring – 246 stories

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

Middle School – 94 stories

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

Science Fiction – 134 stories

Write about a community that worships Mother Nature.

Summer – 82 stories

Contest #90

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Down to Earth

$50

Prize money

814

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 23, 2021 EST

Won by Nina Chyll 🏆

Title: The Tree Surgeon's Dictionary

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

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

“Train to Pikeville” by Sinria Lee

“Varnished seating” by Wiktora Zatorski

“The Train of Fault” by Chloe :)

“Breath In” by Sam Ackman

“Until Tomorrow” by Jaithri K

“My Better Days” by Sylvia Asante

“In the arms of golden grass” by Fresh Start0

“Nature heals” by Poojya Agnihotri

“All Change” by Pete Duffield-Fuller

“I Ask Myself Why” by Maria Moore

“Elsie's Return” by AddieD ❤️❤️

“Confidence” by Mahita Ghattu

“Memories Remind me of the wind ” by Layla Koontz

“The Girl in Wedding Dress and Sneakers” by Hill De Guarde

“Leave Me” by Aida Fakhry

🌟 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 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: