Gemotions

The attic air hung thick and stale, a cloying sweetness clinging to the back of Amelia's throat. She coughed, the dust motes dancing in the lone sunbeam slicing through a crack in the boarded-up window. Her hand trembled as she reached for the tarnished silver locket. It was heavy, cold. She felt a prickle of goosebumps crawl over her skin.

"Hello?" she called out, her voice a thin thread in the echoing silence. Only the scuttling of unseen creatures answered.

Inside the locket, a tiny portrait of a woman with vacant, staring eyes stared back. Amelia felt her stomach clench. Why would someone leave this here? This...this *thing*. She slammed the locket shut, the click sharp and jarring. She had to get out, now.