Murder on the Train
“Well, I didn’t do it,” the conductor said, his tone solemn.
“Nor I,” declared the young belle. She clutched the pearls that hung from her neck, shifting away from the blood stained cabin.
“I was with her,” her escort said, pale in the face as he too shied away from the mess.
Everyone else crowded into the corridor looked upon the scene in stunned silence. The politician was not liked, but he was still human. Who would murder another soul in cold blood? Who would do so in broad daylight, the sun high above the now-stopped train like a spotlight?
Although the corridor was crowded, I could see a figure shrouded in darkness far past the eyes of the people surrounding the scene. He was mousey, curled into himself, and as I stared his dark eyes met mine with a fire only seen in the guiltiest of men.
He was laughing to himself, the cold smile sending shivers down my spine. In that instant, I knew he had done it.
Maybe the politician had hurt him or his loved ones with his policies. Maybe he had overheard something big, and figured the only way to stop whatever it was was to end his life. Maybe he was just a simple killer looking for someone to add to his list.
Maybe, maybe…I turned away and walked back to my own cabin. I didn’t hear a thing when the politician died. I hadn’t seen a thing but the passing of the countryside.
Hello everyone! Thank you so much for reading! For Matt and I’s anniversary, he bought me two flash fiction prompt books that I haven’t had the chance to use because I’ve been busy, ya know, raising a child. I love flash fiction (short stories written in a stream-of-consciousness format that are usually 500 words or less). I tend to say whatever I’m thinking, so writing whatever I’m thinking comes pretty easy to me.
I’m happy I finally got to use this book, The Very Short Story Starter: 101 Flash Fiction Prompts for Creative Writing by John Gillard. It’s been sitting on the arm of the couch for months, taunting me! I finally opened it today and wrote the story you see above. I only altered a couple of sentences for ease of reading. I’ll probably be using this book a lot when I post my short stories, so if I do I’ll definitely let y’all know that the prompts are not 100% my ideas. It’s only fair!
If you liked what you read today, feel free to follow me here on Medium and over on Twitter. Thank you again for reading! I’ll see you next week with something new!
