Gemotions

Eliza’s fingers traced the loops of her aunt’s familiar handwriting. The letter, penned decades ago, was a formal resignation from a university teaching position. Eliza’s eyes darted across the page, and she felt a sudden surge of something inside her.

Her mouth formed a perfect ‘o’. It was not the story she had always been told. The letter seethed with frustration at the institution’s entrenched sexism. The real reason for her departure was no secret after all.

She walked towards the window, the letter held out in front of her. A wave of empathy washed over her. She saw her aunt in a completely new light. The woman she knew as a quiet, bookish academic was, in fact, a passionate fighter.