Gemotions

The photograph, a faded snapshot, showed his mother laughing, her arm around a man who wasn't his father. This was her, the woman who was always so composed, so perfect. The woman who would never do anything wrong. He felt a searing heat rising in his chest. His throat constricted, making it difficult to breathe.

He dropped the picture, letting it fall to the floor. He paced the small room, his hand flying to his mouth. What was real? What was a lie? He didn't know which thought frightened him more: the possibility that everything was a deception, or that the woman he thought he knew was capable of such a thing.