Gemotions

The phone vibrated in her hand, the incessant buzzing a jarring intrusion on the quiet evening. Her sister again. More questions about the drawings. Her niece, Ava, had begun including a winged creature in her artwork, a being that mirrored the one she’d imagined as a child.

She stared at the phone, a knot forming in her stomach. She could feel the tightening in her jaw, the clench of her fists. She felt trapped. The past, once carefully locked away, seemed to be seeping back into her life, relentless, inescapable. She pressed the phone to her ear, the sound of her sister's voice barely registering.