Gemotions

The antique brass letter opener practically danced in Amelia’s hand. She’d found it in her grandmother’s attic trunk just that morning, and now, poised above the crisp white envelope, it felt like a wand. A letter. After fifteen years. The memory of the day, the sharp sting of the words, the sudden, bitter silence… it all rushed back, but instead of the usual ache, a bubble of warm energy expanded in her chest.

She slit the envelope with a flourish, the paper whispering like a delighted secret. A single sheet of cream-colored stationery slid out, covered in a familiar, looping script. A silly grin stretched across her face as she read the first sentence. It was a good day, she realized, a truly excellent day.

Her fingers tapped an excited rhythm against the kitchen table as she devoured the words, the world around her fading away. Outside, the birds chirped with a newfound brightness, mirroring the song that seemed to have sprung up in her own heart.