Gemotions

He’d always thought his father was a giant, a man who could command anything, who controlled everything. But the discovery, wedged between a photo of a younger, happier man and a collection of baseball cards, flipped the script. It was a letter, typed and signed, to the principal of the local high school. Resignation. Dad had been a teacher.

He stared at the brittle page, feeling the air thicken around him. A pressure in his ears, a buzzing. His father had stayed in that job until he died, a fixture of the school. He'd never hinted at any discontent. Never expressed a desire for anything else.

Now, Liam felt the weight of his own life, a heavy chain that he had been born with. He hadn’t realized how quickly the years had passed and now he felt the need to get out. His future looked like a copy of his father's life, and the thought was suffocating.