A Glow in the Moss

Night had fully settled over the balcony when I noticed a faint phosphorescence caught in the damp moss between two weathered concrete bricks. Slipping past the terracotta fragments I secured earlier, I crouched close to examine the source. It was a minuscule shard of reflective foil lodged beneath a snail shell. I held my hand steady above it, letting the faint blue flame illuminate the hidden contour. With a measured pry using a dry twig, I dislodged the scrap. Held against the dark, it cast a pale, cold gleam across the stone floor—a small, gleaming marker claimed from the terrace edge.