Gemotions

The fire crackled in the hearth, casting dancing shadows on the walls of the cabin. A storm raged outside, mirroring the internal tempest that had become her constant companion. The postman had been gone for a week. She barely noticed, until she found the letter propped against the door. She had just returned from chopping some wood.

It was from her estranged mother, a woman who had never offered so much as a kind word. The apology, for a lifetime of neglect, felt like a slap in the face. She flung the letter into the flames, watching it curl and blacken, the words disappearing in the heat. It was just the reaction that her mother would have expected.