Gemotions

The drive in had felt… surreal. Emily had stared blankly at the passing scenery, the houses, the trees. Her parents' house, when it finally came into view, was a blur of brick and green lawn. Now, unpacking her boxes, she felt a strange detachment, like an observer in her own life.

She picked up a framed photo of herself as a child, grinning at the camera. The girl in the picture seemed a million miles away. This was not the future she had wanted.

The first night in her old room she couldn’t fall asleep. The silence pressed in on her, thick and heavy. Each tick of the grandfather clock in the hallway reverberated in the stillness.