Varoon 23 October 2025 at 4:09 pm The train station hadn’t changed. Same cracked tiles. Same flickering departures board. Eli stood by the vending machine, tapping his foot. A silver compass spun slowly in his palm, its lid dented, the needle twitching. Mara arrived without a wave. She dropped her duffel bag beside the bench and sat, pulling her hood down. “You still carry that thing?” Eli didn’t look up. “It still points north.” “Does it?” she asked, watching the needle stutter. He shrugged. “Close enough.” They sat in silence. A train roared past without stopping. “You’re early,” Mara said. “You’re late.” She smirked. “Some things don’t change.” Eli turned the compass lid over. “Some do.” Mara leaned back. “I passed the old trail last week. The one we mapped.” “You mean the one you rerouted.” “I didn’t reroute it. I just… adjusted the markers.” Eli’s grip tightened. “You erased the ridge.” “It was unstable.” “It was ours.” She didn’t reply. A child dropped a toy nearby. Mara picked it up and handed it back, smiling faintly. Eli watched her. “You still do that.” “What?” “Fix things.” She glanced at the compass. “Not everything can be fixed.” He held it out. “Take it.” Mara hesitated. “It’s yours.” “You gave it to me.” “That was before.” Eli placed it on the bench between them. “It still works. Mostly.” She stared at it. “It’s dented.” “So are we.” The announcement blared. Her train. She stood, slinging the bag over her shoulder. “Keep it,” she said. Eli didn’t move. The compass needle spun once, then settled. Reply
2 thoughts on “Week 2 Writing Homework”
Here
Scholarly Wk 2
The train station hadn’t changed. Same cracked tiles. Same flickering departures board.
Eli stood by the vending machine, tapping his foot. A silver compass spun slowly in his palm, its lid dented, the needle twitching.
Mara arrived without a wave. She dropped her duffel bag beside the bench and sat, pulling her hood down. “You still carry that thing?”
Eli didn’t look up. “It still points north.”
“Does it?” she asked, watching the needle stutter.
He shrugged. “Close enough.”
They sat in silence. A train roared past without stopping.
“You’re early,” Mara said.
“You’re late.”
She smirked. “Some things don’t change.”
Eli turned the compass lid over. “Some do.”
Mara leaned back. “I passed the old trail last week. The one we mapped.”
“You mean the one you rerouted.”
“I didn’t reroute it. I just… adjusted the markers.”
Eli’s grip tightened. “You erased the ridge.”
“It was unstable.”
“It was ours.”
She didn’t reply. A child dropped a toy nearby. Mara picked it up and handed it back, smiling faintly.
Eli watched her. “You still do that.”
“What?”
“Fix things.”
She glanced at the compass. “Not everything can be fixed.”
He held it out. “Take it.”
Mara hesitated. “It’s yours.”
“You gave it to me.”
“That was before.”
Eli placed it on the bench between them. “It still works. Mostly.”
She stared at it. “It’s dented.”
“So are we.”
The announcement blared. Her train. She stood, slinging the bag over her shoulder.
“Keep it,” she said.
Eli didn’t move. The compass needle spun once, then settled.