Gemotions

It was the smell that got to him first – a musty, familiar scent that instantly transported him back in time. Then he saw it: Mr. Snuggles. His childhood bear, abandoned and forlorn on a dusty blanket.

A cold dread washed over him. He felt a physical blow to the stomach, a sudden, overwhelming urge to vomit. The world around him seemed to tilt. The cheerful chatter of the yard sale faded into a muffled drone.

He wanted to scream, to tear his hair out, to obliterate the past. But he could only stand there, paralyzed, staring at the bear. He turned and stumbled away, desperate to escape the sudden wave of nausea and the onslaught of unwanted memories.