By: William Shaw.

I stumbled over to the bathroom mirror.

Messy brown hair, blue eyes, pointed nose, crooked teeth. Yep, that was me alright.

What the fuck?

To be clear, I did not see a face with this list of attributes in the mirror. I saw the list itself. I saw those fourteen words, in neat twelve-point type on a white background.

I put my hand to the front of my head. Felt my nose, my eye sockets, my stubborn acne.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I pulled my hand away.

And then I saw my hand was covered in ink.

© 2026. William Shaw

William Shaw is a writer from Sheffield, currently living in the USA. His writing has appeared in Strange Horizons, Daily Science Fiction, and The Georgia Review. You can find his website at williamshawwriter.wordpress.com and his Bluesky at @williamshaw.bsky.social.