Gemotions

He had walked away from everything, the house, the job, his life. The weight on his shoulders felt unbearable. The yard sale was a blur of colors and sounds, meaningless noise. Then, he saw it. The bear, Rupert, sitting near a broken tea set.

His heart seemed to skip a beat. Everything around him faded to gray. He couldn't move. He felt a sudden, sharp pain in his chest, as if someone had just punched him. He remembered the smell of his mother’s baking and the sound of her laughter. He felt a desperate longing for things that were gone.

“Five dollars, mister,” the seller, a teenager with headphones, said. He just stared at the bear, his throat tight, his eyes burning.