Gemotions

The afternoon sun streamed through the window, illuminating dust motes dancing in the air as Emily thumbed through the photographs. They were her great-aunt’s, a woman she’d only known through faded photographs and family lore. She'd been told the woman was a school teacher, devout, a woman of the church.

The photographs told a different tale. One showed her great-aunt, dressed in a daring outfit, holding a cigarette, standing outside a jazz club. She had a mischievous glint in her eyes. It was at odds with the woman in the stories.

Emily felt a slow burn in her cheeks. The narrative of her family, the one she had grown up with, suddenly appeared to be rewritten. A sense of disorientation washed over her. She knew nothing.