Gemotions

“Are you sure you want to be here, honey?” her father asked. He stood next to her, his hand lightly resting on her back.

“I need to be,” she'd replied, her voice flat. She refused to meet his eyes.

They'd arrived early, before anyone else, and she'd been silently observing the house, absorbing every detail. He tried to speak. She shushed him.

She waited.

The wrecking crew arrived, a hulking presence. The sound of the machinery started.

She felt a strange lightness as the first wall fell. She smiled, tiny and hidden.