Coffee ring halos on the desk

Yellowed corners

Paper dust

Thousand half-born chapters

Stacked up

Just because

Your name scribbled sideways

On every other page

Dates crossed out in pencil

Like you’re dodging age

These drafts keep breathing on their own

Characters walking off the notes

Every margin full of whispered spells

Your stories start writing themselves

I swear I see them turning keys

Sneaking out when you fall asleep

Whole worlds building on these shelves

Your stories start writing themselves

Red pen resting like it’s tired

Spine-cracked books lean in to hear

Your favorite mug still chipped

Been that way for years

That one scene you never finished

Ink frozen in a thought

Tonight the dialogue just moves

Like it forgot it was lost

Pages rustle in the quiet

Like they’re talking in the dark

Plotlines weaving in the wires

Kissing in the margins of your heart

You think you’re the one who made them

But they’re the ones who keep you here

Keeping watch above your shoulder

Til another chapter appears