Gemotions

"Lovely place," the builder had said, "but needs work." Sarah agreed, but not just on the house itself. The house was her project, a way to occupy her time, fill the void. Now, she was stripping wallpaper in the master bedroom when a detective arrived, his voice clipped and businesslike.

He explained about the crime scene. A woman found dead. The bedroom was where it happened. Sarah’s hands stopped moving, and she stared at the exposed plaster. The air in the room seemed to thicken, making it hard to breathe. The detective's words faded as she fixated on the peeling walls.

Sarah spent the rest of the day in a daze, moving from room to room. The silence was overwhelming, the walls felt like they were closing in. Her grand plans for redecorating, for a fresh start, suddenly felt impossible.