Gemotions

"Charming Colonial, Meticulously Maintained." The words on the listing felt like a personal insult. She'd known this day was coming, of course. Her parents were gone now. But seeing the glossy photographs, the curated perfection… it felt like a betrayal. A theft.

She grabbed a half-eaten bag of chips and ripped it open, the crinkling sound a defiant crackle in the silence of her apartment. She munched loudly, each bite a pointed act of rebellion against the pristine reality presented on the screen. The salt stung her dry lips.

She imagined the new owners, the ones who would move in and rearrange everything, and the idea of that was a punch to the gut. The world was full of people who didn’t understand, who didn’t *know*.