Gemotions

The pawn shop was dim, dusty, and smelled of something indefinable and unpleasant. Alex stood in the doorway, hesitating. He didn’t want to be here. The ring, his grandmother’s engagement ring, should not be here, a piece of jewelry amongst a collection of forgotten objects.

He felt a familiar ache in his chest, a combination of sadness and something else, something harder, something he wouldn't admit to himself. The pawn shop's fluorescent lights seemed to highlight the injustice of it all.

He walked over to the display case, his footsteps echoing in the silence. "How much for the ring?" he asked the shop owner, the words catching in his throat. The price was too high, even though it wasn't. He should have been able to prevent this.