Slugs Have Power

In Block 48, the slugs arrived quietly. The committees arrived louder.

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The hard, rain pelts stop on the window panes.

The Lift buttons damp as cold breath. 

Rising rainwater in small side drains. 

Silver, slime streak along the void deck,

Unseen as busy feet fall. 

Slithery sliding, silver antennae glistening. 

An Uncle on the Resident's Chat. 

"Why so much silver, is someone too rich?"

The estate slid by slowly.

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Stay safe and stoic, advised the Town Council.

Gastropods. A Gastropod Governing Guild grew. 

Laminated assurances fluttered by mailboxes. 

Typed concerns in stoic Arial.

Salt circles, cautiously cropped, outside homes. 

Then-

Generous grumbling. 

A resident on the chat.

"Why take so long to catch them, ah? 

Slugs got power. ah?"

The brooms gather, grumbling.

The lift breathes. Boldly.

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The silver streaks swarmed steadily

Roused rivers rising beneath yellow fluorescence. 

Then, corridors clean at dawn, empty before sunset.

The cleaner auntie mops.

"So slimy, strange, ah." 

Her angry whispers traveled faster than the slimy slugs.

Only she moved without fear. 

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The Singapore Straits Streaming Service arrives to film 

The silver streak of slugs. 

Stairs Spotless. 

Silver slugs-_

Swept aside.

Fresh paint over silver slime. 

Official shoes squeak across polished tiles. 

The estate glows for the cameras.

But 

Silver streak of slugs

"Oi! Slime some more!"

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Original poem by Michelle Liew Tsui-Lin. AI tags are coincidental.

Mirrors of the Mind by Michelle Liew is a collection of psychological and supernatural short stories that explore the quiet unease beneath ordinary moments. These are not tales of spectacle, but of subtle fracture — where memory distorts, silence speaks, and the self is not always singular. In these stories, what is unseen often carries the greatest weight, and what lingers is not what is shown, but what is felt.