For anyone wondering, the miliscape Instagram account is: https://www.instagram.com/miliscape_09?igsh=eW5tOTFia2JtbGQ1

Again, apologies for the delays:( I’ve been swamped by everything Y11 and couldn’t find the inspiration to write after hours worth of studying…

The town had a Lost and Found. There lay the occasional umbrella, the keys someone left on a bus, the purple wallet dropped at a metro station. But there were also tokens, messages, birthday cards and the scattered beads of friendship bracelets, ripped in bouts of rage.

One morning, an old man walked in carrying a glass jar.

“What did you lose?” asked the woman behind the counter.

The old man placed the jar on the desk. He didn’t reply, because he couldn’t.

Inside the jar swirled memories, unfinished conversations, sunsets watched through car windows, books abandoned halfway through, birthdays spent answering messages.

The woman nodded. She led him through rows of shelves stretching far beyond the walls of the building.

There were thousands of them, in different shapes and sizes. Some rattled with the regret of forgotten dreams. Others shimmered with the confidence that accompanied success. Some held curiosity, inquisitively knocking into their disgruntled partners.

Finally, the man found a jar with his name written across the lid. He took a deep breath before opening it.

A warm summer evening spilled out.

His daughter was six years old again, tugging on his sleeve, asking him to watch her ride her bike, and for a moment, he was young again.

“You can take it home,” the woman said.

The old man looked at the jar and watched it for a moment, lost in a swirling train of thought.

Inside, his daughter laughed as she raced down the driveway on a bicycle too large for her.

He watched for a moment.

Then he screwed the lid shut.

“No,” he replied, running a thumb across the label. To her confusion, he placed the jar back on the shelf and walked out of the building.

Halfway home, he stopped at a park. A little girl was wobbling across the path on a bicycle.

Her father was looking at his phone, frowning at the email on his screen. The old man watched as the girl turned around.

“Dad! Did you see that?”

The father looked up.

“No, sweetheart. Do it again.”

The old man kept walking.

Signing off…