Gemotions

He'd been clearing out the old storage shed, a task he'd been putting off for far too long. John, in his late fifties, stumbled upon something hard in the mud. A time capsule, judging by the rusted metal. He didn't remember burying one.

Inside, a collection of old comic books, a cassette tape labelled “The Future,” and a photo of a young man, beaming with optimism, surrounded by his friends. The comic books evoked a time when he was full of ambition, the tape a promise of something he'd never received.

He stared at the photograph, the image of his younger self staring back. He realized the man in the picture wouldn't recognize the man he had become. The weight of his inaction pressed down on him. He found himself unable to meet his own gaze.