Transit

Photo of a rainy view through a train window- prompt for a flash fiction story three line tale
Photo by Wilson Lau

The carriage was full, travelers standing with shoulders, backpacks and elbows pressed, a carnival of scarves and beanies as the game-attending crowd created jostling hues of their allegiances.

With the approach of their stop, the ebb and flow of chatter reached a crescendo of deafening laughter and chanting, morphing the game crowd into a single organism, leaving Elise feeling even more alone on what was for her a milestone journey.

Replaying the moment in nightmares and obsessive thoughts of waking hours, she hadn’t imagined the station being a welcome sight, but with the crowd’s departure, there was momentary relief in tears no longer forced back by a levee of laughing eyes, blurring the tracks and trees like rain streaking the window, her sobbing gasps filling the void they’d left as the train crawled past the spot marked by cellophane and ribbons of a bouquet long gone.

 

Inspired by Sonya’s Three Line Tales, Week 18

18 thoughts on “Transit”

    1. Thanks Derrick- that means a lot, as I struggled with this prompt, and though the backstory isn’t the same, I was channeling how I felt in a similar train experience- that deep sense of isolation when there is a disconnect between your emotions and that of everyone around you.

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      2. Thanks Kathy- really glad it came through in the writing 🙂 I’m learning that you don’t have to necessarily write a true to life account to add authenticity, emotions can be common across a range of experiences.

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