The Marble Charm

The boys thought they had brought home a trinket.

Something else followed.

***

Little John and jim

Find an old charm in an attic dim. 

They flick away the soot and dust

That covers it, despite the attic's must--

Uncover gleaming eyes that blink. 

***

Then, along the corridor, and to the stairs;

A sound that grips with eerie flair

Marbles roll across the floor

Click.Bump. Click. Bump. on the door.

***

An Uncle sees the riddled charm, 

Balks at its possible harm

The warning, from where, no one knows

It leaves a chill that grips the toes. 

***

The clicking sounds own one final night

The last marble rolls, slowly, to give fright-

The Click! Click! sounds that echoed, grim

Returned in the air, a haunting hymn.

***

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.