Gemotions

He found it wedged between the pages of a well-worn cookbook. Thomas had been searching for a recipe, a simple distraction from the emptiness that had settled within him since the divorce. It wasn’t a recipe, however. Instead, it was a letter.

He read it slowly, his jaw tight, his hands clenching into fists. The words, a young man's furious denunciation of his own father, stung like a fresh wound. The paper crackled in his grasp.

His breath hitched. He closed his eyes, remembering the arguments, the silences, the years of unspoken grievances. The familiar ache in his chest intensified. He threw the letter onto the counter, his appetite vanishing, the world suddenly muted.