Gemotions

The envelope, sealed with a faded sticker of a smiling sun, felt oddly heavy in her hand. Emily sat at the kitchen table, the early morning light casting long shadows across the room. It had been twenty years since she had left home, twenty years since she had written the letter. It was to her sister, the sister who had always been her rival.

She remembered the fury, the sense of betrayal. She thought of her sister, still living in the house they grew up in. She opened the letter, the paper brittle and fragile. The words leaped off the page, each one a sharp reminder of the past. Her jaw tightened as she read, the muscles in her neck aching. She refolded the letter and put it away. She was not ready.