Gemotions

The sheer volume of it was staggering. Jake stood in the middle of his childhood bedroom, now repurposed as a storage space, staring at the boxes. His mother had been at it for hours, pulling out assignment after assignment. The scene was overwhelming.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. He felt a heavy weight pressing down on him. A particularly embarrassing drawing of a monster, complete with misspelled words, seemed to mock him from a folder. He closed the folder. This was too much.

“Mom,” he said, his voice laced with a weariness that belied his true feeling, “can we maybe take a break?”