Gemotions

Sarah couldn't sleep. The silence of the house pressed in on her, heavy and suffocating. She’d been up for hours, the image of the box in the guest bedroom burned into her mind. It was filled with her mother's keepsakes, and now, her schoolwork. She found it by accident, while searching for an old photo album. The discovery had unmoored her.

She got out of bed, her bare feet cold on the wood floor. She paced the living room, replaying the moment she'd seen her fifth-grade book report, the one she’d been so proud of, but apparently, not good enough. She remembered her mother’s disappointment at her grade. She dug her nails into her palms, a desperate, anchoring gesture.