Five Minutes explores five minutes of a life in one hundred words. Five minutes is edited by Susanna Baird, with editorial support from managing editor Maria s. picone, newsletter editor kate meen, and founding reader bobbi lerman, plus our rotating team of guest readers, who you can meet in the latest newsletteR. Five Minutes was founded in October 2020, with the Salem (Mass.)-based writing group Carrot Cake Writers supplying the journal’s first pieces. We’d love to read your five. Submit here

Freight Train

I wake with a start. I can’t see in the dark hotel room, but I hear something. A freight train rushing towards me at full speed, ready to knock me out. The bed I’m in is on top of the train tracks. If I want to survive, I’ll need to leap out of bed any second now. The train whistles are only getting louder as the seconds pass, but I’m too tired to get out of bed. I find the strength to lift up my head. I look over at the bed next to mine. It’s my dad snoring again.

Jane Silverman is a tenth grader from Larchmont, New York. She’s always loved writing and reading.

in bed together

The Matinee