Gemotions

The house was quiet, too quiet. The attic door creaked open, admitting a sliver of light. Laura reached into a box, and her hand brushed against the letter. It felt strange to the touch. She knew the envelope and the stationery instantly. She had to stop and catch her breath.

It was addressed to her first love, a boy she had known when she was barely seventeen. The words were a monument to teenage passion, filled with fiery declarations and desperate promises. She recalled the time, and a strange tension coursed through her limbs.

She had been so certain then. Now, reading the words, she felt a profound sense of distance, of another person she once was. The letter was a time capsule of a young woman's heart. A strange nausea began to churn in her stomach.