joeislove's 100-word story for July 16, 2025

joeislove wrote the following micro-story on Hectalex on July 16, 2025. Each story on Hectalex is inspired by a daily visual prompt and must be exactly 100 words.

The well was ancient and at the bottom were stars. The opening was thirty feet across. Inside the diameter increased to accommodate the spiraling stairs. You could feel the changes going deeper. The stairs became cruder or finer. Odd petroglyphs gave way to elaborate mosaic or flat perfect tilework. The old man couldn't say how deep the starwell was. A few hundred feet down and we looked back up. The blue sky had darkened and there they were: Sirius and Venus. Only one properly a star, of course, but astonishing presences in what should have been a late afternoon sky.

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