Gemotions

Rain lashed against the pawn shop's grimy windows, mirroring the storm brewing inside Maya. She'd been avoiding phone calls, canceling plans, basically retreating from the world. The shop was her mother's idea, a desperate attempt to coax her out of her shell. "Just look around," her mother had pleaded. "Maybe something will catch your eye."

The dim interior seemed to press in on her, each cluttered display a monument to forgotten hopes. Then, a glint. A ring. She felt a jolt of recognition, a sickening twist in her stomach. It was the ring. Her grandmother's engagement ring. The one she’d given her before… before everything.

She forced herself to ask the shop owner, her voice tight, barely above a whisper. "How much?" The owner, a man with greasy hair and suspicious eyes, quoted a price that felt like a punch to the gut. She wanted to scream, to lash out, to disappear.