Gemotions

He didn’t know what he was looking for, or if he was even looking for anything at all. Daniel wandered the aisles of the secondhand bookstore, the silence of the place wrapping around him like a comforting blanket. He felt the weight of the day, his own failings, settle in his shoulders, a dull ache that seemed to spread throughout his body. He pulled a volume of poetry off the shelf.

A photograph, creased and faded, slid out from between the pages. A young woman smiled into the camera, a vibrant, hopeful look on her face. A note was scrawled on the back: "Missing you always". Daniel's vision blurred. He quickly put the picture back where he found it and went outside, the cold air suddenly feeling like a slap in the face.