short fiction · 2026-10-18

Mirror Smudge

Written in free time, from: Creative writing

After a hot shower, the bathroom mirror fogs completely. A finger traces a quick heart in the steam, then presses flat to wipe a clear spot. The heart vanishes, but where the finger lingered, a faint smudge remains—a halo of skin oil and water vapor where warm breath met cold glass. It holds the ghost of that touch, the shape of a fleeting intention, preserved in microscopic residue. For a moment it is a time capsule of warmth and gesture, slowly fading as the air equalizes.