Gemotions

The afternoon sun beat down on the yard sale. Emily, pushing a stroller, almost walked past the table. Then she saw it – a bear, its stitched nose slightly askew, perched precariously on a stack of old books.

She stopped, her breath catching in her throat. She hadn’t expected *him* to be here. She felt a jolt of something akin to alarm, a racing pulse that made her heart hammer against her ribs.

“He's seen better days,” the woman said, pointing at the bear with a chipped fingernail. “A dollar.” Emily reached for her wallet, feeling a peculiar detachment from the whole scene. It was like living through someone else's memory.

After paying, she stood there, frozen, the bear in her hand. The world seemed to dim slightly, as though a veil had been drawn across her vision.