“Ye Shanghai….Ye Shanghai…..”
The piano riffs squealed to an abrupt stop.
But the melody outlived the musician.
L14.
Still.
Rounding her mouth in the gasp that was—
Hers.
Like the unseen singer’s
The portraits rounded their mouths with her.
Godfather Lim scratched an itch—
That lasted.
The brass plaques began to tarnish.
Their polished surfaces—
Darkening.
Uneven.
They grew in age and corruption.
Not L14’s.
The corrosion—
Chose.
Almost every picture.
Each one reflected not age, but—
Reduction.
Of a trapped, female soul.
The Godfather’s breath, a single word—”
“Fanatical.”
The word did not condemn. He couldn’t.
But it acknowledged.
And then I understood.
The Lim mansion was not preserving.
It was returning.
Voices to the girls from whom they were taken.
Summarily.
Godfather Lim lowered his hand.
His eyes never left the skin that grazed.
And the itch was continuous.
Not on his skin.
But on what caused remembrance.
Of each portrait. And L14.
“Ye Shanghai….Ye Shanghai…..”
The piano riffs squealed to an abrupt stop.
But the melody outlived the musician.
L14.
Still.
Rounding her mouth in the gasp that was—
Hers.
Like the unseen singer’s
The portraits rounded their mouths with her.
Godfather Lim scratched an itch—
That lasted.
The brass plaques began to tarnish.
Their polished surfaces—
Darkening.
Uneven.
They grew in age and corruption.
Not L14’s.
The corrosion—
Chose.
Almost every picture.
Each one reflected not age, but—
Reduction.
Of a trapped, female soul.
The Godfather’s breath, a single word—”
“Fanatical.”
The word did not condemn. He couldn’t.
But it acknowledged.
And then I understood.
The Lim mansion was not preserving.
It was returning.
Voices to the girls from whom they were taken.
Summarily.
Godfather Lim lowered his hand.
His eyes never left the skin that grazed.
And the itch was continuous.
Not on his skin.
But on what caused remembrance.
Of each portrait. And L14.
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.
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.