August 2025 Runner Up: Inheritance

The solicitor slid a single key across the desk. “From your grandmother.”

Mara unlocked the cottage at dusk. Dusty air smelled of lavender and iron. On the mantle lay a chessboard mid-game. The white queen was missing.

A note waited: Finish what I began.

Mara set her black king forward. Instantly, the pieces stirred, replaying decades of battles and wars, betrayals, love affairs…all moves her grandmother had once made.

Checkmate required a sacrifice she recognised from family lore.

When the board fell silent, her phone buzzed: Congratulations, Grandmaster. Your next opponent awaits.

The missing white queen gleamed in her palm.