Gemotions

The woman across the street stared, her hands clasped in her lap. The constant grinding and clanking was the soundtrack to her loneliness. She’d been alone for so long now. She watched the workers with their camaraderie, their shared laughter. She felt the hollow ache in her chest.

She went to the window, watching them. The noise was an intrusion, a constant reminder of the lack of activity in her own life. The walls of her house seemed to shrink, trapping her in a silence that was more deafening than the construction next door.

She sat back in her chair, a single tear tracing a path down her cheek. The renovation next door, a symbol of growth and change, was a painful contrast to her stagnant life.