Gemotions

He stared at the photograph, his jaw working as if he were chewing something bitter. David had always been told his father was a war hero. The picture, however, showed his father, not in uniform, but in casual clothes, smiling at a casino. He leaned back in the chair, the wood creaking beneath him.

He felt a tightness in his chest, a sensation akin to being physically constricted. The photograph threatened to unravel everything. He had been so proud. He hadn't known what to make of the details within the picture.

He took a sharp, indrawn breath. He needed to understand. He needed to make sense of what he was seeing. He picked up the photograph again, his fingers tracing the edges as though he could somehow erase the image.