Gemotions

The sunlight was too bright, filtering through the blinds of Liam’s childhood bedroom. He felt the familiar drag in his legs as he knelt to search under the bed. He was supposed to be cleaning the house, but the thought of it seemed monumental. He needed to find his father's old baseball glove.

He found it, buried beneath a pile of old comic books and forgotten toys. And, tucked inside the glove, a folded piece of paper. It was a letter, penned in his father's bold hand. It was a letter of resignation, addressed to the law firm where he'd spent his career. The reason? A yearning for something else, a regret at not pursuing a different path.

Liam stared at the words, the weight of his own unrealized ambitions pressing down on him. He hadn't picked up a book in a month. His father, he saw, had felt this too. He pictured his father's face, the lines of exhaustion around his eyes, and a deep, unexpected sadness settled in Liam's stomach.