Personal Essay - Completed January 2026

Currently under simultaneous submission

Short Description:

This reflective narrative explores the contrast between the ease with which most people move through public space and the vigilance that shapes the author’s experience of travel. While observing commuters waiting for a bus, the narrator recognizes that for others, transit follows a simple, linear progression from one point to another.

For her, movement is governed by internal negotiations, constant scanning for exits, and an inability to find resolution in a journey. Ordinary errands become mental loops rather than completed actions, shaped by the awareness of escape, return, and endurance. The essay traces how this vigilance does not belong to a single mode of transportation or a single moment, but follows her through the day, quietly defining how far she goes, how long she stays, and how much she attempts.

(A publication link will be added once the piece is placed.)

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