Gemotions

The engine cut. Silence. Liam stared at the empty space. His lip curled involuntarily. He’d always imagined it would be standing there, the weeping willow he had planted as a child. He felt a sudden, intense heat rising in his cheeks.

He circled the area, his gaze darting from the stump to the freshly churned earth where it had fallen. The air thrummed with a strange energy, a palpable tension. He felt a tightness in his chest, as if someone had wrapped a steel band around it. He wanted to shout. He wanted to rage.

He kicked a small pebble, sending it skittering across the grass. That was it. That was all that was left. A pile of woodchips and a memory. The sheer absurdity of it made his head spin. How dare they?