Gemotions

He stared at the handwritten list, his fingers tracing the loops and curves of his mother's script. "Write a book." It was a betrayal. His mother, who told him to focus on practicalities.

He balled the paper and squeezed it until his knuckles turned white. All the years of denying herself, all the carefully constructed compromises. How dare she leave behind this testament to a life unlived?

He threw the paper across the room, it landed against the wall and fell to the ground. The injustice of it all, the secrets, the hidden desires... it was more than he could bear.