Gemotions

The flowers were tulips, vibrant and cheerful, a jarring contrast to the dim lighting of Sarah's apartment. She had been staring at the cracks in the ceiling for hours. The doorbell had jolted her from her stupor. No card, just the bright, silent blossoms.

She carried them to the kitchen, her steps slow and deliberate. She filled a vase with water, her movements robotic. The silence in the apartment pressed in on her, heavy and suffocating. She couldn't bring herself to arrange them.

She eventually gave up and went back to the living room, the flowers a silent, oblivious presence in the kitchen, another mystery she couldn't bring herself to solve.