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Still as a Grave While I Move On
#WritcoStoryPrompt113
Write a story about a time-train. You're standing right in the midst of a railroad track.There are two sides to every story: One that is positive and the other is negative. You have to choose between two sides, but you have no idea which one is which.
© All Rights Reserved
Sapphire looked out the window, fiddling with her pendant, as the landscape sped past. The train was still as the grave under her feet as she sat in its carriage. Just the one, richly decorated with red velvet booths, dark wood tables, and gold trimming. No engine. No caboose. Sapphire was sure, not even wheels. How she knew that, she didn't know; Sapphire could not remember ever seeing the train from the outside, yet she was sure it remained locked in place as forests, plains, mountains, and more forests sped by outside.
She stood up, again, and walked to the front of the carriage. There were two doors, here; one that looked out on the forests, plains, and mountains, the other staring out at sea. The doors were identical, nothing to tell her which she should pick.
"One door leads to joy and freedom. The other leads to misery."
Sapphire huffed at the inscription on the wall in front of her. How was she supposed to choose when the was nothing to base her choice off of other than the view outside the windows? Was she supposed to pick randomly? Pray? Scream? Blindfold herself in her scarf, turn around, and point? Stay here forever?
Shudder.
She recalled the chain of events that had led her here.
School had gotten out early that day. A parade was scheduled to go by on the street outside the school, so pickup couldn't happen at normal time. That was good; Sapphire had to board a train to get to her grandparents' house for the holidays, and she'd be pressed for time if she'd gotten out at three. On her way out, she'd seen Devin, the class clown. Sapphire frowned. Devin looked...down, hands in his pockets, jacket hood pulled low over his face, focused on his phone. That wasn't like him.
She jogged over. "Hey, Devin. Is there something wrong?"
"Leave me alone," Devin shot back. Sapphire frowned. That definitely wasn't like him.
"Don't you normally go to the train station? I'm going there too today-"
"No, I don't want you to walk with me."
Then, a crowd of people arrived, the juniors. By the time Sapphire got herself out of the chaos, Devin had disappeared.
When she got to the train station, she saw Devin again, standing at the edge of the platform, and, and...her memory seemed to skip a moment, and Sapphire gritted her teeth as she remembered what happened after. Crossing from the carriage she'd entered on to the one behind it where her seat was, and what had happened.
The dull roar of people died down. The smooth steel of the train was replaced by tile, the city outside was replaced with the forest and plains and mountain. The door behind her was locked.
The door was not there anymore.
In truth, Sapphire had no idea how long she'd sat on the booth in shock. Was she dreaming?
No, this was real.
She should have done something. What could she have done? Called for help, talked to him, anything? Instead of standing there. He saw her. He cried. She was crying.
Sapphire reached for a handle to the sea, but didn't touch it. She should have done something. Was this her punishment? For not doing anything?
Was there anything she could have done?
The train carriage sat unmoving as the world rushed by, it waited for no-one, and it would not wait for her to rejoin it.
She had to eventually, Sapphire could all but hear her mother's voice telling her just that. "Get up and get going, Sapphire! Life is a march, you best fall in time or you will be left behind. Do you want that? Do you want to end up like your sister, that lazy girl? Do you want to be begging on the streets for mercy? The world has no mercy to give, you cannot be reliant on mercy that does not exist. Get up and get going, you have a life to get to!"
She didn't get up from her seat.
A desert interrupted the forests. Sapphire stared out at it, endless expanses of golden red sand, dunes towering like mountains. She felt none of the oppressive heat, and when an icy desert mirrored it on the other side, Sapphire didn't feel the chill either.
She replayed the moment in her head. Could she have even done anything? What was there to do? It wasn't as though she and Devin had been close friends, Devin was "friends" with everyone but close to none of them. Especially not her.
A million other moments rippled through her mind, when smiles seemed faked and the shadows hid tears. Could she have done anything? Sapphire lifted the pendant from her neck. "It was my sister's," Devin had said. That had been Valentine's Day, and everyone got a gift from Devin. "It looks good on you," he'd said. She'd worn it every day, the least she could do.
...There wasn't anything she could have done, was there?
Drops of tears fell on the table, a few at first, then more.
She should have seen. Should have known.
Sapphire cried for what seemed like an eternity. When she got up, she tucked the pendant under her scarf again and opened the door to the desert sands.
Write a story about a time-train. You're standing right in the midst of a railroad track.There are two sides to every story: One that is positive and the other is negative. You have to choose between two sides, but you have no idea which one is which.
© All Rights Reserved
Sapphire looked out the window, fiddling with her pendant, as the landscape sped past. The train was still as the grave under her feet as she sat in its carriage. Just the one, richly decorated with red velvet booths, dark wood tables, and gold trimming. No engine. No caboose. Sapphire was sure, not even wheels. How she knew that, she didn't know; Sapphire could not remember ever seeing the train from the outside, yet she was sure it remained locked in place as forests, plains, mountains, and more forests sped by outside.
She stood up, again, and walked to the front of the carriage. There were two doors, here; one that looked out on the forests, plains, and mountains, the other staring out at sea. The doors were identical, nothing to tell her which she should pick.
"One door leads to joy and freedom. The other leads to misery."
Sapphire huffed at the inscription on the wall in front of her. How was she supposed to choose when the was nothing to base her choice off of other than the view outside the windows? Was she supposed to pick randomly? Pray? Scream? Blindfold herself in her scarf, turn around, and point? Stay here forever?
Shudder.
She recalled the chain of events that had led her here.
School had gotten out early that day. A parade was scheduled to go by on the street outside the school, so pickup couldn't happen at normal time. That was good; Sapphire had to board a train to get to her grandparents' house for the holidays, and she'd be pressed for time if she'd gotten out at three. On her way out, she'd seen Devin, the class clown. Sapphire frowned. Devin looked...down, hands in his pockets, jacket hood pulled low over his face, focused on his phone. That wasn't like him.
She jogged over. "Hey, Devin. Is there something wrong?"
"Leave me alone," Devin shot back. Sapphire frowned. That definitely wasn't like him.
"Don't you normally go to the train station? I'm going there too today-"
"No, I don't want you to walk with me."
Then, a crowd of people arrived, the juniors. By the time Sapphire got herself out of the chaos, Devin had disappeared.
When she got to the train station, she saw Devin again, standing at the edge of the platform, and, and...her memory seemed to skip a moment, and Sapphire gritted her teeth as she remembered what happened after. Crossing from the carriage she'd entered on to the one behind it where her seat was, and what had happened.
The dull roar of people died down. The smooth steel of the train was replaced by tile, the city outside was replaced with the forest and plains and mountain. The door behind her was locked.
The door was not there anymore.
In truth, Sapphire had no idea how long she'd sat on the booth in shock. Was she dreaming?
No, this was real.
She should have done something. What could she have done? Called for help, talked to him, anything? Instead of standing there. He saw her. He cried. She was crying.
Sapphire reached for a handle to the sea, but didn't touch it. She should have done something. Was this her punishment? For not doing anything?
Was there anything she could have done?
The train carriage sat unmoving as the world rushed by, it waited for no-one, and it would not wait for her to rejoin it.
She had to eventually, Sapphire could all but hear her mother's voice telling her just that. "Get up and get going, Sapphire! Life is a march, you best fall in time or you will be left behind. Do you want that? Do you want to end up like your sister, that lazy girl? Do you want to be begging on the streets for mercy? The world has no mercy to give, you cannot be reliant on mercy that does not exist. Get up and get going, you have a life to get to!"
She didn't get up from her seat.
A desert interrupted the forests. Sapphire stared out at it, endless expanses of golden red sand, dunes towering like mountains. She felt none of the oppressive heat, and when an icy desert mirrored it on the other side, Sapphire didn't feel the chill either.
She replayed the moment in her head. Could she have even done anything? What was there to do? It wasn't as though she and Devin had been close friends, Devin was "friends" with everyone but close to none of them. Especially not her.
A million other moments rippled through her mind, when smiles seemed faked and the shadows hid tears. Could she have done anything? Sapphire lifted the pendant from her neck. "It was my sister's," Devin had said. That had been Valentine's Day, and everyone got a gift from Devin. "It looks good on you," he'd said. She'd worn it every day, the least she could do.
...There wasn't anything she could have done, was there?
Drops of tears fell on the table, a few at first, then more.
She should have seen. Should have known.
Sapphire cried for what seemed like an eternity. When she got up, she tucked the pendant under her scarf again and opened the door to the desert sands.
