Gemotions

Rain lashed against the car window as Maya drove, blurring the familiar landscape. She’d promised her grandfather she would visit the tree he'd helped her plant, but months had melted into years. Guilt clawed at her, a constant, nagging discomfort. She had made so many other promises too.

The park entrance was deserted. The air felt thick and heavy with the scent of wet earth and decaying leaves. Her boots crunched on the gravel path. The place where the tree used to be was now vacant. The space felt enormous and hollow, like a missing tooth in a perfect smile.

She touched the smooth, damp bark of the nearest oak, seeking some connection, some solace. Nothing. The tears came unbidden, hot and stinging, a release of the burden she had been carrying, the unspoken disappointments.