Gemotions

David felt a cold sweat break out on his forehead. The room spun around him. He'd been expecting old photos, maybe some of his dad's things. He had not anticipated this. Each paper, neatly filed in binders, represented a facet of his mother's world, a world he had never known.

He picked up a science project, complete with intricate drawings and diagrams. He could practically hear his mother's voice, the tone of her voice, so familiar, so *nowhere*. The realization of how much he *didn't* know about her hit him like a physical blow.

His vision blurred. He felt a desperate urge to run, to escape the suffocating weight of this meticulously preserved past. The air grew thin.