10-Minute Writing Prompt: The Track

Trigger warning: Suicidal ideation

Prompt: In ten minutes, write what you think is happening in this image.

My story:

The air was still and quiet, but the roaring in my head would not let peace in, no matter how much I wished it. I was walking at first, but I grew so weary that I had to sit down. Listening to the voice inside that told me I may as well lay across the tracks and be done with it, I took a seat, just on the edge of them. I could fall back if I changed my mind.

No train was detectable, but my heart still pounded at the thought that I may truly be going through with what I had pondered so many times before. That’s when another person emerged, a pretty girl who I did not know. She looked at me strangely, but I had to avert my eyes in my shame. Before I knew it, she sat across from me, her legs extended as though she trusted me like an old friend.

In a voice sweet as honey and soft as a breeze, she asked, “What’s the occasion?” I finally built up the courage to look her in the eyes, and I found kindness and wisdom there. She knew why I was there, but she was not leaving me alone, or even staying away where it was safe.

She did not know me, so why did she care? I could scarcely find the words to answer her but shrugged in response. How could I explain that the occasion was a lifetime of feeling unwanted and unloved, even though I had no reason to feel that way? How could I explain that I felt like a burden to everyone around me and just wanted to relieve them of my presence?

As if reading my mind, she leaned closer and said, “It’s alright. You don’t have to say anything. But I’m going to be right here with you. When you’re ready to talk or get up, I’ll be with you.”