The Last Train Out
A free B1-level English story for language learners, readable online in English, with an option to listen via the free Storyteller app.
Elias and Noor miss the last train back to their hostel on a school exchange trip and have to find their own way home in an unfamiliar city.
Elias and Noor are on their school's exchange trip, three days into two weeks. They're in a city where neither of them speaks the language well. Tonight, they've stayed out later than planned, wandering through a night market their teacher specifically warned them about.
"We have time," Noor says, checking her phone. "The last train back to the hostel is at eleven."
They lose track of time somewhere between a food stall and a street performer juggling fire. By the time they check again, it's 10:52. The train station is a fifteen-minute walk away, at least.
"We need to run," Elias says, already moving.
They sprint through unfamiliar streets, checking street signs they can barely read. They follow the map on Noor's phone, even as it keeps recalculating their route. Elias's backpack bounces painfully against his spine the whole way.
They reach the platform at 11:03, breathless, just in time to watch the train doors close without them.
"That's it. We missed it," Noor says, sitting down hard on a bench. "The next one isn't until six in the morning."
Elias checks his phone. No signal, and the battery is dangerously low. Their teacher told them exactly what to do in this situation. But neither of them actually paid attention at the time.
"Okay," Elias says, trying to sound calmer than he feels. "We have enough money for a taxi, probably. If we split the cost, it shouldn't be too expensive."
They approach the taxi stand outside the station, where a driver is finishing a cigarette. Neither of them knows the exact address, only the hostel's name and its neighborhood.
Noor pulls up a photo of the hostel's business card, saved from their first day. She holds it up for the driver to see. The driver studies it for a moment, nods, and waves them into the back seat.
The ride takes almost twenty minutes, mostly in silence. Both of them watch unfamiliar streets slide past the window. When they finally reach the hostel, the driver refuses a tip. He says something neither of them fully understands. Somehow, it sounds like reassurance.
Back in their rooms, their teacher is still awake, unaware they were ever gone. Elias and Noor agree, without discussing it, that this story can wait until they're home.
