Train Journey

The train rattled onward, a cacophony of iron and wind. The woman sat alone, occasionally lit up by sunbeams. Her eyes, the colour of a faded #scarlet rose, stared out the window, unseeing. The rice paddies blurred into streaks of gold and green, a silent movie on fast forward. In her hand, a well-worn paperback, its cover adorned with a lone bird in flight. But the woman wasn’t reading. She was lost in a memory, a bittersweet ache in her chest. A memory of scarlet sunsets, shared laughter, and rumpled bed sheets. A memory that felt a lifetime ago and like yesterday.