Gemotions

The sunlight felt unusually harsh against Elias’s skin as he stared at the woman in front of him. He’d driven for hours, across state lines, chasing a memory, a feeling. He'd imagined this meeting, not one that would lead him to feeling like he had stumbled into some kind of bizarro-world version of his life.

"You… you don't remember the summer camp?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly. The woman, Sarah, had a pleasant, vaguely familiar face. "I went to a lot of summer camps," she said, her tone light and conversational, as if they were discussing the weather. "The one by the lake? With the talent show? You sang 'Yesterday'?"

He felt his hands clench into fists. A pulsing heat crawled up his neck. He wanted to shake her, to shout the details of the camp to her, to *make* her remember. He took a long, slow breath. The urge to flee was almost overwhelming.