Gemotions

"I don't understand," Maya whispered, her voice barely audible. The old music box sat on the dusty table, its painted ballerinas still and silent. It was a present from her late grandmother, a relic of their shared childhood. Maya remembered the music box being gifted as a reward for a school play. Her cousin, however, insisted it was a gift given during a difficult time, after Maya's parents had separated. The memories were so different, the chasm now filled with an unbearable pain, the weight of a past they could no longer share. She pressed her fingertips to her temples, a dull throb accompanying the silent music box, a painful echo of a life once shared.