Gemotions

The artist's breath hitched as she entered the gallery. It was an involuntary reaction, a physical manifestation of the jumble of thoughts and feelings swirling inside her. Her drawings, once a private journal, now hung for all the world to see. She remembered the scratch of the pencil on paper, the simple act of creation.

She felt a tightening in her chest, a familiar knot of emotion that often accompanied memories of her youth. The energy. The freedom. The life she had had then. She closed her eyes for a moment, letting the flood of recollections wash over her.

“Fabulous, isn’t it?” a woman with a blonde bob and a bright smile said, gesturing at one of the framed sketches. The artist forced a smile, but her throat constricted. She wanted to erase this, to have it all back.