Gemotions

The excavation was slow, methodical. It was all Dr. Chen knew. He found the capsule unexpectedly. A relic from a past he couldn't grasp. His work was all he had left. The dig was near a dead and abandoned town, a world away from people and connection.

Inside, a map to a hidden place, a handwritten recipe for a dish he didn't recognize, and a picture of a group of people smiling. A wave of a feeling he’d long suppressed. He felt a phantom warmth.

He sat alone in his tent, looking at the photographs, an ache resonating in his chest. The campfire crackled in the darkness, the only sound to break the silence of the night. It felt cold, and distant.