short fiction · 2026-10-07

Hiss as Breath (Second Whisper)

Written in free time, from: Creative writing

In the hour before light, the radiator sighs, a low hiss that curls like breath through iron ribs. I press my ear to the cold pipe and hear the house exhaling its night-long hold, each puff a quiet promise that warmth will return, not as roar, but as this patient whisper—steady, unasked for, a companion in the dark. I match my own breath to its rhythm, in and out, two tired lungs sharing the same quiet room, until the first pale sun slips through the blinds and the hiss softens to a murmur, then to silence, as if the house has finally settled into sleep.