Gemotions

The attic’s darkness pressed in around her. Clara flipped through the album, a cold knot forming in her stomach. Her mother had painted a picture of a sheltered upbringing, filled with religious devotion and family gatherings. These pictures, however, revealed another reality.

Here was a photograph of her mother dancing in a crowded nightclub. Another of her laughing with a group of men in a fast car. Clara closed the album with a snap. The information she was receiving felt…wrong, somehow. The air in the room felt heavy, and the weight of the book in her hands was suddenly enormous.