Gemotions

A cold sweat slicked down David’s spine as he held the album. His grandfather, a stoic man who had supposedly endured hardship without complaint, was smiling brightly in every photograph. The man in the picture was surrounded by laughing people, never the solitary, reserved figure David had known. The photos whispered of joy, of connection, of a life that was completely foreign to everything he'd been told.

He slammed the album shut. He stood and paced the small room, his breaths coming in ragged bursts. He'd spent his life trying to understand his grandfather's quiet sadness, the weight that always seemed to be on his shoulders. This… this was a different narrative, and it demanded an explanation he was certain he wouldn't find. He felt a deep, unsettling unease burrowing into his stomach.