Gemotions

He had promised her forever, a sentiment etched onto her wrist in a fragile, temporary tattoo. The ink, now fading, felt like a deliberate insult. She sat on a park bench, the very spot where he had proposed, watching the couples stroll hand in hand, each step a further erosion of her heart.

A man approached, his face etched with a similar desolation. He held a crumpled napkin, upon which a hastily drawn heart was scrawled, a love note. The same love note. The man looked at her, his eyes mirroring the hollow ache she felt.

The sun beat down, a merciless spotlight on their shared pain. There was nothing to say, nothing that hadn't already been said, and nothing that could fill the vast emptiness within them. The laughter of children, once a source of joy, now grated on her nerves.