Gemotions

He stared at the photograph, the image burned into his retinas. His mother, the woman who had always been a rock, a pillar of strength, was pictured in a nightclub. Dancing, laughing, with a man who was most definitely not his father. Her face, animated with a joy he'd never witnessed, was a stranger's.

A cold wave washed over David. He felt disoriented, like he'd stepped into a funhouse mirror and saw a warped version of his reality. He felt a frantic need to rewrite everything, to erase this image. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to banish the picture, but it remained.

His hands shook as he set down the photograph, the paper feeling somehow offensive to the touch. He wanted to run, to leave the house, to shed the weight of this newly unveiled secret.