Trains

101 word short story, written for a contest.

I caught her. She was sitting on the tracks. The train was expected soon. I was waiting for the same train. I smiled at her, but she turned her head from me.

“Not happy to see me?”

“Leave me alone.”

 “…We both know I can’t do that…”

She didn’t say anything; instead she looked down the tracks, hoping for light. We sat for a while, not talking. But soon enough, I could feel vibrations underneath us.

“Maybe you should go to therapy.”

A smile played on her lips, “Maybe.”

“Or, maybe…you’re just trying to save yourself.”

I heard the whistle blow.

Author's Note

Heavily up to interpretation, and honestly might be quite choppy due to word count restraint. Though, I feel like I have the foundation for something interesting. I might expand this to a much longer short story.

Reviews

[Witts]

Interesting, I think you did a good job working with the word limit. Definitely can be taken different ways. If you want it too be easier to follow it would probably only need a few more sentences to hook it together smoother. If you want to keep the meaning ambiguous, it's very good as it is.

[R.K. Hughes]

Thank you. And I feel the same way, but sadly the one contest rule is it has to be a 101 word story. My original draft had around 170 words and flowed much better, but alas sentences had to be cut. If I do end up expanding the story I will aim for a 2 page short story. The meaning is meant to be ambiguous, so interpret as you will! Thank you very much for your review. I'm quite new at fiction and your review is very encouraging.