Gemotions

The listing had been shared on her Facebook feed. "Check out this gem!" her cousin had posted, complete with a smiling emoji. She hadn't replied. She felt a cold wave wash over her as she clicked the link.

The pristine kitchen, the manicured lawn… it was all so… wrong. The new owners had erased the years of memories, the laughter, the tears, the scraped knees, the birthday parties. It was now a show home, a sterile monument to someone else's idea of perfection.

She scrolled through the photos, each one a fresh stab. Her childhood bedroom was a guest room. The old maple tree in the backyard, her personal hideout, was now part of a designer patio. She shut the laptop, her hand trembling. They didn't understand. They couldn't.