Gemotions

"It’s not real," she muttered under her breath, staring at the bulldozer parked on the street. They were already beginning. The notification had arrived days before, but she'd convinced herself it was a mistake. Now, the machine’s cold metal was a symbol of her loss.

She instinctively reached for her coffee, but her hand shook so violently she spilled the contents all over the counter. Her vision went blurry, and her jaw felt locked, frozen. She watched, paralyzed, as the excavator’s teeth began tearing into the brick.

She wanted to scream, but no sound came out. She wanted to run toward the house and grab her photo albums, the things that were truly hers, but her legs were lead. The house seemed to shrink, crumble, and disappear into a cloud of dust.