Gemotions

The letter arrived on a Tuesday: the demolition date. He threw it in the trash, then retrieved it. He stared at it, the black ink blurring through his tears. He hated his sister. He hated her for getting the inheritance, for seemingly effortlessly waltzing through life. He wanted to scream.

He called her, his voice tight. She was breezy, cheerful. "Oh, isn't it wonderful? Think of the new possibilities!" He hung up, unable to stomach her relentless positivity.

He drove past the house that night, the moon casting long shadows. It looked dilapidated, forlorn, but it was *his*. Or, at least, it *had* been. His sister's new life was already beginning, and he just felt… stranded.