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Chillsville, a quirky town where fear was penned,
By the residents’ cold and shaky hands,
The records, seen as matters of routine —
And the dark ink was fodder, rich, for the unseen.
And after each blessed census, recorded, done —
The residents’ written fears strangely vanish, gone
Chillsville’s folk cheer wildly, now no longer afraid
Joy is but a minute, with words penned in vain.
Then Census Sally, with observant eye, then sees,
In the penned records, faults, small inconsistencies
She brings them forth, at a town meeting, all outpoured
They are cast aside, pointedly, all ignored.
And Census Sally visits Chillsville’s final home,
Where a blank census lay, a silent tomb.
In a creased corner, in dark ink, their meaning plain —
Two words, their cursive clear — -
Chillsville’s names.
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.