Gemotions

The chipped porcelain doll, carefully placed on a velvet cushion, seemed to watch him with vacant eyes. His sister, with an unreadable expression, went over the sale details. He had played with the doll as a child, imagining it as a princess and making up fantastical stories.

He fiddled with a button on his shirt, his fingers clumsy, as the reality of the situation sunk in. He looked out the window, at the gray, overcast sky, its gloom mirroring the cloud in his heart. It felt like a final goodbye, a severing of ties. The thought of the doll being handled by strangers was unbearable.