Gemotions

She scrolled, her fingers trembling. The price. The goddamn price. They were asking *how much*? After everything that had happened there? A bitter laugh escaped her lips, a harsh, humorless sound that scratched at the quiet of her empty apartment. The online tour, smooth and professional, showed a house she barely recognized. Painted a ghastly shade of blue. New landscaping. Everything pristine.

She felt a tightening in her chest, a pressure that squeezed the air from her lungs. She almost wanted to call the number, scream at someone, anyone.

She closed her laptop with a snap, the sudden darkness a physical relief. Then, she stood up and walked to the window, staring out at the city. The city that had swallowed her. The city that had let her down. And now, she could imagine the new family inside, probably getting ready to build new memories, as if those walls didn't hold a thousand ghosts of her own.