Gemotions

The real estate website's algorithm, as usual, had been exceptionally perceptive. A listing, tailored directly to him: 45 Birch Lane. His childhood home. A tightness constricted his chest.

He clicked, and the pictures appeared. The kitchen had been modernized. The yard, once wild, was now meticulously landscaped. He remembered the treehouse he and his friends had built. It was no longer there.

He looked at the images of the house. He felt a profound sense of distance, as if the place was now something completely foreign to him. He was a visitor, gazing upon a life he had once lived. He closed the browser and sat in the dark for a long time.