Gemotions

The photograph of the house, gleaming under a pristine sky, filled the screen. A wave of regret crashed over her, a torrent of unbidden memories. The thought of all the years wasted, the chances missed, slammed into her like a physical force.

She hadn't realized how important it was to her until she saw it, altered and re-imagined. A part of her was still there, in the creaking floorboards, the chipped paint, the ghost of laughter echoing in the empty rooms.

She felt a bitter resentment towards the anonymous buyers, the future inhabitants who would never know the history held within those walls. It was a space holding intimate memories that would never be the same again.

She closed her eyes, trying to conjure the scent of her father’s pipe tobacco, the sound of her mother singing in the garden. But the images were fading, becoming blurry, as if the past was deliberately dissolving.