Short Story

Writing About What You Said

When I was working in Leeds, I was travelling every day from Huddersfield. It would start with a 10-20 minute bus ride, a 40 minute train ride and then a 15-20 minute bus ride, each way. Commuting was a waste of time. As an artist, I would want to use the time to draw or sketch out paintings, but the train was almost always too packed. 

One day, I managed to find a seat, I was scrolling through social media trying to avoid eye contact with other passengers. In the seat behind me there were two men in their early thirties, one was telling the other about a trip that had gone wrong. He had been for a job interview down south and due to the distance he had booked a hotel. He screwed up the interview and annoyed at himself, he got pissed. Then he couldn’t find his way back to his hotel and ended up wandering the streets all night.

I tried to put myself into the poor lad’s shoes and it got me thinking. What else could have happened to him that night? I… Read more