Gemotions

He stared blankly at the crumpled permission slip in his hand. Mrs. Carter. Her face flickered in his memory, the sharp angles, the disapproving frown. He remembered the feeling of inadequacy, the constant pressure to perform. It was a suffocating feeling he hadn’t thought about in decades, now flooding back.

He felt a tightness in his chest. His son, David, deserved better. He crumpled the paper further, the sound loud in the quiet kitchen. He imagined David, sitting in that classroom, subjected to the same rigid expectations. A sense of determination hardening his features. He couldn’t let that happen. He wouldn't.