Gemotions

He kept fiddling with the car keys, the jingle a nervous metronome. The antique pocket watch, his grandfather’s, rested in the palm of his hand. It was the last thing he had of him. His sister, Sarah, wanted it. She said she needed the money. She’d been asking for weeks.

The drive over to Sarah’s felt interminable. He pictured his grandfather, his kind eyes, the way he would always smell of pipe tobacco. He felt an intense disquiet, a pressure building behind his eyes.

He’d already accepted the offer for the car, but this...this felt different. He parked the car, and his legs felt heavy as he walked up the path to the house. He imagined the watch gone, a piece of his past lost forever.