Gemotions

He ran his hand across the rough surface of the wooden table. A friend request. From Michael, the kid who’d always been a source of both admiration and frustration. He felt a prickle of unease. He could almost feel the weight of his schoolbag, the familiar ache in his shoulders.

The sounds of his present life faded away as he recalled the laughter of the schoolyard, the taste of stale pizza, the bright glare of the gymnasium lights. He felt a phantom ache in his knee, a relic of a particularly rough game. He was back in the school hallways.

He thought of his younger self, the boy he had been. He looked at Michael’s photo. He felt a strange mixture of emotions, a longing for something lost and a curiosity about what might have been. He confirmed the request, feeling the weight of the past settling on him. He needed a drink.