Gemotions

The silence in the house was a suffocating blanket. Anna couldn't remember the last time she'd truly laughed. Everything felt heavy, the air thick with an unspoken sorrow. She went through the routines of her day, an automaton, each movement devoid of joy. Her wife, Emily, kept trying to engage her in conversation, but the words seemed to bounce off her, unanswered.

Emily started to recite a poem, in a voice she'd never heard before. She was speaking in Anna's native tongue. The words were a jarring intrusion, a reminder of a culture Anna had abandoned, or at least, had felt abandoned by.

Anna felt a prickling sensation behind her eyes. It was a language she had long ago ceased to use. The sudden sound of it filled her with a strange mix of emotions, a longing she couldn't name and a bitterness that tasted like ash in her mouth.