Gemotions

The surveyor had offered her a hard hat. She waved him away, unable to speak, to form the words to explain her feelings. The air around her vibrated with the rumble of the engines, the clatter of metal.

She looked at the garden, at the overgrown rose bushes, at the broken bird bath. She remembered her father's laughter, the scent of his pipe tobacco mingling with the fresh-cut grass.

She wanted to scream, to run. She couldn't breathe. She felt a tightening in her chest, a weight pressing down on her. She had to leave, to escape. But she couldn't move.