Gemotions

"Well, this is… unexpected," Liam murmured, staring at the box marked "Liam - High School." He’d expected to find some of his father's old fishing gear. Instead, he found a meticulously cataloged record of his adolescence.

He ran a hand over his face, as if to clear the fog in his mind. He pulled out an essay, then another. He struggled to breathe, the air thick with the scent of aged paper and regret. He looked at his younger self, captured in ink and pencil, and felt a strange disconnect.

He sat heavily on an old trunk, the sudden weight making him wince. He thought of his mother, her gentle smile, her constant encouragement. Was this her way of remembering? Of preserving? A chill ran through him. He felt a sudden, powerful impulse to leave the basement, to escape the crushing weight of his past.