Leaving Myself Behind

Hope #1 — Tomorrow I’m somewhere else — someone else

In Nightcafe with an edit from ChatGPT

(Series Link)

The chimes towards midnight cut through the cheers, while the fireworks set the sky aglow.

At that moment, everyone was united, their sole purpose to celebrate the dawn of a new year. People rarely agree for long, and I wondered what 2026 would bring for me.

The crowd embraced each other, hugging and kissing like one organism - my cue to turn away from the square. I had a long night ahead. The plan was to walk until the sun came up, then head for the nearest bus station.

I found the quietest road out of town, adrenaline leading the way.

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To be continued…

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Author Note

My story above is exactly 100 words and was sparked by a single line from a tale by Debdutta Pal - linked at the end of this post.

This part stands on its own, but it’s also episode one of a series called Hope. Next Thursday, Debdutta will pick up the story with another 100-word instalment.

I first published Leaving Myself Behind a few years ago on Medium and because it was inspired by Debdutta I invited her to continue it. She took up the baton and we had a blast!

The series was entirely spontaneous—we never plotted ahead or spoke to each other about it—plus every episode had to be precisely 100 words. Setting it in a modern world with these self-contained bursts was challenging and fun.

I suspect we will make slight edits and image changes with this updated version, and we’ll also share our reflections on the plot as we go.

We hope you’ll stick around to see where the story leads…

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The series will remain free. If you would like to receive all episodes via your inbox, please subscribe to Collaborative Fiction:

Here’s the story by Debdutta that inspired the whole thing:

New Year’s Eve

And an intro post from me: