magisternihil's 100-word story for March 26, 2026

magisternihil wrote the following micro-story on Hectalex on March 26, 2026. Each story on Hectalex is inspired by a daily visual prompt and must be exactly 100 words.

He remembered ice skating when he was small—nervous legs shaking, mittened hands clutching the wall, pure exhaustion at the end of the day. Maybe that was what he needed, something to take his mind off everything and force him to focus. Then came the moment, as he stood in the middle of the rink—legs once again shaking like an earthquake manifested, skaters zooming around him as simply an obstacle—that he remembered that “the best-laid schemes of mice and men go oft awry.” What he wouldn’t give to see a mouse wearing ice skates so he could commiserate.

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