Gemotions

The lawyer had just announced the distribution of their mother's estate. Sarah watched, her face a mask, as her brother, David, was handed the keys to their mother's successful bakery, a bustling hub in their small town. She received a shoebox.

She opened it, revealing dozens of photographs, all faded and creased. Pictures of her mother from a lifetime ago, smiling, laughing, living. A wave of suffocating pressure began in her chest. For years she'd felt like she was trapped in the same loop, moving through the motions of work, meals, and sleep, but she never truly felt alive.

The weight of the box on her lap was crushing. She hadn't the faintest idea what to do with the images of her mother.