Gemotions

"Just leave it to the professionals, dear," Aunt Millie had said, patting her hand. She thought she knew everything. Sophia, stuck with sorting old keepsakes, ignored Millie's comment, a familiar sting prickling her skin. Sophia, the "artistic one," felt like a second-class citizen in her family.

She found a photo album tucked behind a cracked porcelain doll. Inside, photos documented her mother's college years. And there were poems and paintings. The young woman in the photographs, her mother, was a vibrant, talented artist. It was a skill that seemed to have disappeared by the time Sophia was born.

The photographs showed a woman who'd almost made it. Sophia found herself pushing the album away, a flush rising on her cheeks. She was sure she couldn't breathe.