FulfilFent was a town where everything had to have —
A purpose.
A reason for being.
The little township had an established Department of Purpose which examined possessions yearly.
A chair? For sitting.
A book? For reading.
Ornaments? For anything more than mere decoration.
Young goblin Milo arrived, bearing his grandfather’s old key. No one knew what it opened.
Then there was the key.
That didn’t seem to open anything.
Purposeless.
The Department confiscated it.
Its officials tried it on everything.
Doors.
Drawers.
Chests.
“Everything must have a purpose!” A flummoxed inspector declared.
Then —
Click.
The key turned —
To him.
And a tiny compartment in him abruptly opened.
The department decreed that it warranted investigation.
They tested it on:
Bakers.
Teachers.
Even —
The Mayor.
Everything had a compartment—a neat label.
Then, they tested Milo. Who contained —
Nothing.
Who panicked frantically. What was he for?
Then he remembered —
No one had given him any.
He winced, then smiled. Perhaps being was purpose.
For now.
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.
