Gemotions

"Oh, for heaven’s sake," Mrs. Petrova muttered, her fingers flying over the cluttered surface of her desk. This wasn't her day. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead, a constant buzz that amplified her mounting disquiet. A package had arrived, postmarked from a town she barely remembered. A name she remembered well: Daniel.

She'd thought she'd put all that behind her. He'd been a troubled student. She'd tried to help. She'd failed. Now, the weight of the past seemed to settle heavily on her shoulders. Her vision blurred for a moment.

The box contained a book. A worn copy of "Crime and Punishment", marked up with a familiar blue pen. A single, brittle page was folded open. A small drawing lay upon the page of a skull, with her initials next to it. Beneath it, a line was scrawled, “You were right.”