Gemotions

The city outside the window roared with noise, but inside the apartment, a different kind of quiet reigned. The silence buzzed, heavy with unspoken things. He found it on the bedside table, beneath a half-read novel. Her bucket list, in elegant cursive.

"Learn to speak French. Visit the Pyramids. Write a screenplay." He felt a strange detachment, as if he were an observer watching a play unfold. He felt a deep, abiding ache in his chest, a hollow feeling that echoed the vast emptiness of the room. A bitter taste lingered in his mouth.