Gemotions

The silence of the house pressed in on her, a physical weight she couldn't shake. Her fingers traced the dust-covered frame of a photograph on the mantelpiece, the image of her mother’s smiling face. She felt a hollowness inside, a vast empty space where warmth used to be.

She decided, against her better judgment, to go through her mother’s things. In the guest bedroom closet, she unearthed a large, battered cardboard box labeled "My Precious." It contained all her schoolwork from kindergarten through high school, meticulously preserved.

She found a drawing of a family, a crude but earnest depiction of her, her parents, and her dog. Her throat tightened. She remembered the sheer happiness of that time. A sudden tremor ran through her.