Gemotions

Eliza kicked at a loose stone in the garden path, scowling. Another summer, another family reunion. It was always the same stories, the same saccharine pronouncements about their picture-perfect lives. She knew better.

The old photos, unearthed from a forgotten box in the garage, told a different story. Her grandfather, a man she’d always been told was a pillar of the community, was caught in a grainy photograph, his arm slung around a woman who certainly wasn't his wife.

A tight knot formed in Eliza’s stomach. The hypocrisy of it all was making her skin crawl. She wanted to scream. She had the impulse to run away.