Gemotions

He hadn't been to a bar in ages, but the familiar ache in his gut pushed him through the door. The low hum of conversation, the clinking of glasses, did little to penetrate the pervasive hollowness he carried. He sat alone at a table, nursing a beer, the amber liquid doing nothing to soothe his disquiet. Then, the singer took the stage. As the first notes of his own song, a ballad he'd penned years ago, began to flow through the speakers, he felt a strange tightening in his chest. It was a cover, a simplified version, but the lyrics, his words, hit him like a physical blow. The barroom blurred.