Gemotions

Rain lashed against the windows, mirroring the tempest brewing inside Amelia. Another Tuesday. Another endless string of tasks. She slouched in her office chair, the hum of the fluorescent lights a dull ache in her temples. A thick envelope, postmarked from a town she hadn't thought of in decades, lay on her desk. The handwriting, loopy and unfamiliar, yet somehow recognizable, sparked a flicker of something unwelcome within her chest. She almost didn't open it.

The paper crackled as she unfolded it, the words inside swimming before her eyes. An apology. From Sarah. The girl who had stolen her boyfriend in senior year. A bitterness, sharp and immediate, pricked her. Years, they had stretched between them, and now this. A belated attempt at absolution. She crumpled the letter, the paper catching on her fingernails.