Fiction · Original fiction
Mira brought a city map to lunch and circled every place she hoped to visit. Dev looked at the crowded paper, then pointed to the unmarked square between two circles.
What happens here? he asked.
They walked there that afternoon. It held a small garden, a shut kiosk, and a bench with a view of neither landmark. They ate the fruit they had meant to save for later.
Mira marked the square with a little pencil dot. At home, she did not cross out the other circles. She added a second key to the map: places where we stopped without planning to. The dots slowly became the part she returned to most.
Take a moment
What would your map leave unmarked at first?