Gemotions

"Well, this is… something," Maya murmured, her voice barely a whisper. Her brother, Ethan, was already inside, calling for her to come see the kitchen. She lagged, her feet dragging with a weight she didn’t understand. This whole situation felt impossible.

She'd never really known her grandmother. Visits had been infrequent, and Maya, as a child, had found her to be intimidating. Now, confronted with the physical remnants of her life, she was overwhelmed.

The sunlight streamed through the dusty windows, illuminating swaths of particles floating in the air. Each piece of furniture, each photograph, seemed to contain an untold story, a secret.

Ethan was rattling on about renovations, about selling the house. Maya wanted to scream, to run. She felt a profound sense of paralysis, a feeling of being caught in a slow, suffocating current. She was drowning.