Gemotions

Liam practically skipped down the street, his backpack swinging rhythmically. He felt a fizzing in his chest, a bubble of pure happiness. The lottery ticket he'd almost thrown away had won! His childhood tree, the one he’d sworn to always visit, the one he’d named “Hope”, he was heading straight there. He’d buy the whole street ice cream!

Rounding the corner, he practically sang out loud, expecting a familiar embrace of green and shadow. It was gone. The space where Hope had stood, the sentinel of his youth, was a vacant patch of churned earth. His face fell.

Liam took a step back, as if punched in the gut. All the happiness that had been coursing through him just moments ago drained away, leaving a strange and heavy void in its place. He felt a sudden, inexplicable urge to cry.