Gemotions

The old photographs, retrieved from her aunt's attic, revealed a different history. The rigid, judgmental matriarch she'd known, a woman always pushing for respectability, was in these pictures laughing freely, holding a bottle of champagne, flirting with a man who was not her husband.

Eleanor's breath hitched. She felt a sharp, stabbing sensation in her chest. She needed to get out, away from the dust and the secrets. The air in the attic was suddenly too thick, too close.

She stumbled down the stairs, her vision blurring, desperate for fresh air, for the familiar comfort of the sun. She felt like she could barely breathe.