Gemotions

Sarah felt a chill despite the summer heat. The empty space in the backyard mocked her. The willow she had painstakingly nurtured as a girl, the one that had provided the perfect swing and shade, had been felled. Her fingers trembled as she reached out to touch the freshly cut stump.

A sudden wave of nausea rolled over her. She turned away, her vision blurring, and stumbled toward the house, needing to be inside, away from this gaping void. The world seemed tilted, unsteady.

She could hear her mother calling from the kitchen window. The words seemed distant, meaningless. All she could focus on was the profound absence, the sheer wrongness of the scene.