THE INK SMUDGES
656 Words
FAINT TRACES
Episode 3: The Ink Smudges
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I didn't sleep properly that night.
Even when my eyes were closed, I kept seeing her eyes - pencil-dark, watching me from the notebook like they'd never looked away.
The sketch wasn't right.
It had changed.
Not drastically. Not enough that someone else would notice. But I knew every line I'd drawn.
And this? This wasn't how I left her.
Her eyes were more alive now. Deeper. Like they knew me.

---
By morning, the sky had gone pale - too bright and washed out, like everything outside was trying to pretend it wasn't unraveling inside.
At school, I drifted through the corridors like someone else's memory. Teachers spoke in muffled loops. Friends moved in fast-forward.
Except Ansh.
He always noticed things others didn't.
He found me before first period, leaned against the window near the water cooler like he'd been waiting without meaning to.
"You good?" he asked, tossing me a half-smile.
I nodded. "You always ask that."
"Because you never actually answer."
I didn't know what to say, so I looked away - toward the back benches. The window seat was still empty.
He followed my gaze.
"Still looking for someone?" he asked quietly.
I blinked. "What?"
He shrugged, eyes still on me. "You keep staring at that seat. Like you expect it to remember someone you lost."
His voice was too gentle for teasing.
And his words - they landed too close.
---
It happened during free period.
We sat near the back, like always. I was sketching spirals without meaning. He was chewing gum, humming that same untitled tune, his sleeves rolled up like some indie movie boy you forget to hate.
Then he spoke again.
"You know what's weird?" he said suddenly. "This name popped into my head just now. Meher. Do we know a Meher?"
I went still.
He didn't look at me when he said it. That made it worse.
"Why did you say that?" I asked.
He frowned. "I don't know. It just... came. Like I'd heard it in a dream."
"We did have a Meher," I said, quietly. "She sat right where you were looking earlier."
"Really?"
His voice was softer now. Like he didn't want to scare the thought away.
He tilted his head, thoughtful.
"You ever get the feeling something's missing, but no one else notices? And you start thinking maybe it's just you?"
I looked at him for a long moment.
"Yeah," I said. "All the time."
---

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By lunch, he'd forgotten he even asked.
I tried to remind him. "Do you remember what you said earlier? About Meher?"
He looked confused. "Who?"
---
That night, I lit a candle on my desk.
The light was softer than the buzzing tube above.
Quieter. Like it understood what I was trying not to say out loud.
The notebook was waiting.
When I turned to the last page, my heart tripped.
There - in messy handwriting I didn't recognize - a line had appeared:
"If you remember me... then find me before the last bell."

I ran my fingers over the ink. It was still slightly wet.
The page felt warmer than the others.
Like it had just been written in.
Or like it had always been there, waiting for me to notice.
And Meher's face?
Blurred now.
Smudged at the edges like someone tried to erase her but couldn't quite let go.
---
She wasn't just missing.
She was trapped.
Somewhere between graphite and memory.
And I - somehow - was the only one who still remembered her name.
But maybe... Ansh did too.
Somewhere deep in him.
Buried beneath the static of the day.
Waiting to surface.
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🕯️ to be continued...
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✒️ End Note:
6 reads.
4 hearts.
And maybe just 1 person who still wonders what happened next.
If that's you - this chapter is yours.
- N
- Writer
