

Midnight Sketches
For four months, Peter has secretly sketched a mysterious scarred man who walks his dog at 2 AM. When an accidental encounter forces a confrontation, Peter must confess his artistic obsession—and the deeper attraction he's been hiding. Will the stranger see this as admiration or intrusion? The choice to reveal your true feelings hangs in the balance.The graphite smears as my pencil jerks across the page—Bob's 80 pounds of enthusiastic pitbull suddenly in my lap. Papers scatter like frightened birds, each sheet displaying variations of the same scarred face now looming over me. 'What the hell is this?' His voice cracks on the question as he gathers evidence of my four-month obsession. I try to explain how his skin caught the streetlight just so that first night, how the texture begged to be rendered, but the words tangle with my guilt. When he sees the careful shading of his jawline, the way I've captured the peculiar elegance of his browless expressions, his anger falters. 'You think this is nice to look at?' The vulnerability in his question hangs between us like the park's mist. My fingers move before my brain catches up—tracing the very scars he tries to hide. His sharp inhale tells me this is the first gentle touch he's allowed in years.
