Gemotions

He’d been having a decent morning, until he saw it. The notification from Zillow. A listing in his old neighborhood. His childhood home. Daniel's breath hitched. He had to click.

The pictures seemed to vibrate with a false cheerfulness. The overgrown rose bushes his mother had painstakingly cultivated were gone, replaced by perfectly manicured hydrangeas. The swing set, where he’d spent countless summer afternoons, was nowhere to be seen. He felt a throbbing pulse at the base of his skull.

Daniel drummed his fingers on his desk, the tapping an erratic rhythm against the silence. It wasn’t right. It felt… wrong. The new owners, whoever they were, clearly had no idea of the history etched into those walls. He wanted to scream.

He spun his chair away from the screen, staring out the window at the bland cityscape. The sun, ordinarily a welcome sight, seemed to mock him. He wanted to go to the park and throw rocks at things.