This is a story I wrote in my Freestyle English class as a part of our Flash Fiction unit. Flash Fictions are especially brief short stories, typically less than 1000 words.

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Bells rang, brakes screeched. The building bustled with the unmistakable air of a public transit center, despite the lethargic mental condition of its inhabitants. He sat on a fraction of a bench, artfully won by swooping in just as its previous owner had risen. As he scanned the half-asleep coffee sipping faces, the sea of standing commuters briefly parted, surely an act of God in light of the countenance it revealed. His eyes fleetingly caught hers before the churning human mass separated them once again.

What a face! What eyes! He desperately craned his neck to glimpse her again. What a connection! He felt as if he understood her all at once. However his thorough searches of the seething herd were unfruitful, and he sulked as he despondently stepped onto his train. Joy! How elated he was to find her already there. Once again their eyes quickly met, and once again he felt a surge of meaning and well-being course through him. He carefully sat down, not too close but not too far. He figured she must be new; he would have noticed her if she had taken this train before. He hoped she would become a daily commuter, he was shy and surely it was too soon to approach her. As it turned out, she became a regular on the train. He looked forward to his commute every day. But even the deep feeling that would sweep him away every time he saw her couldn’t overcome his shy tendencies. He spent the weeks sitting in quiet fascination and longing. Finally, one day he mustered the gall to talk to her.

As it turned out, he hated her. Life went on.