Gemotions

The grainy photographs, pulled from a musty box, didn't match the tales she’d heard her whole life. Her great-uncle, the war hero lauded for his bravery, was in these pictures deserting his post, surrendering to the enemy. The evidence was irrefutable.

She crumpled the photos in her hands, the paper tearing under her grip. The carefully constructed facade, the stories of courage and sacrifice, crumbled. She kicked the box across the room, the sound a release of the anger that had been simmering within her. She needed air, needed to be away from the suffocating weight of deceit.