Gemotions

He held the letter aloft, the afternoon sun illuminating the words. It was a response to a proposal, a refusal delivered with a sharpness that surprised even him. He’d never sent it, the impulse to do so lost somewhere in the years that followed. He realized that the reasons for sending it were all the more foolish now.

He felt a tightness in his chest as he re-read the pointed prose. The letter spoke of conviction, but he now saw something else within the text. He sighed and, turning away from the window, went to the fire and watched as the paper turned to ash.