Gemotions

The old farmhouse echoed with the sounds of the wind whistling through the cracks in the walls. Maya read the letter, her mother's handwriting as familiar as her own skin. It was a resignation, a release from a role she loved, a role she'd been forced to relinquish.

Maya had always felt the pressure of her mother's unfulfilled ambitions. The letter confirmed the sacrifices, the compromises, the silent grief. The truth was there, a shadow in every word. She felt as though she couldn't breathe.

She balled up the letter in her fist, then slowly smoothed it out, tracing the loops of the letters with her finger. She had always thought her mother's life had been full. Now, looking at the letter, she felt as though her world had been stripped bare. She had to go outside.