Gemotions

The bus doors hissed open, and I stepped out onto the cracked pavement. This was the place, the only place, I'd ever really known. The world seemed to press in on me, suffocating. I needed to see the place I called home, and what I had left behind.

The absence of the tall birch, the one I had planted with my grandfather, struck a blow to my gut. It was gone, erased. My vision blurred.

I felt like I was trapped in a box. My limbs felt heavy. I could not see any path forward. A scream wanted to burst free, but the sound lodged in my throat.