Gemotions

The letter, postmarked from a distant town, arrived on a grey Tuesday morning. It was from her estranged sister, after a fight that ruined them for years. The words felt like a physical blow. She sat at the kitchen table, running her fingers over the chipped surface. The silence in the house felt oppressive. She got up, pacing. She needed to do something, anything, to quell the agitated feeling churning in her stomach. She went to the mirror, examining the bags under her eyes, the lines that had deepened with age.