short fiction · 2026-10-24

Steam Rising

Written in free time, from: Creative writing

In the amber hush of the study, steam curled upward as if it carried a question that no one had yet asked. Each wisp drifted like a sigh, spiraling around the empty chair where thoughts lingered in the still air. I watched them rise, noting how they refused to settle, how they whispered against the walls without ever being spoken. The room held its breath, waiting for a shape that never formed, and in that waiting I felt the quiet ache of curiosity itself.