Gemotions

The flickering candlelight cast long, dancing shadows on the walls of her room. She stared at the letter, its contents seared into her memory. Her father's neat script, so familiar yet now so alien, detailing his resignation. A turning point. A choice. A silence that had stretched across decades.

She hugged her knees, feeling a chill despite the warmth of the small space. She replayed snippets of conversations with him over and over in her head. The casual banter, the jokes, the way he would never really *say* anything. She felt a familiar hollowness inside, a kind of emptiness that echoed through her very being.

She rose and began to walk around the small space, her movements restless. She found herself reaching for a cigarette, even though she hadn't smoked in years. She threw it away unlit, the gesture somehow satisfying.