Gemotions

A tremor ran through Leo as he looked at the crayon drawing. His five-year-old niece, Lily, had proudly presented it to him: a stick figure with impossibly large, lopsided eyes, floating next to a rainbow. It was the same figure, the same eyes, the same rainbow. The one he hadn’t thought about in twenty years. The one he’d called Captain Sparkle. Heat crept up his neck, and he fidgeted, suddenly very interested in the dust motes dancing in the sunlight streaming through the window. "That’s… that’s a very colorful drawing, Lily," he managed, his voice sounding thinner than usual. He swallowed, the lump in his throat making it hard to speak.