Gemotions

The wind howled outside, mirroring the turmoil within Ethan. He’d stumbled upon a box of old photographs while cleaning out his recently deceased grandmother’s house. He'd always known his grandfather as a quiet, reserved man who rarely spoke of his past. The photos showed a different picture.

One showed his grandfather, a hardened face, in the uniform of a soldier, clutching a bottle and laughing with a group of his comrades. The man he thought he knew was absent. A sense of displacement settled over him, a feeling that nothing was quite what it seemed.

He found himself pacing the creaking floorboards of the empty house, unable to shake off the sense of unreality. The house, usually a place of comfort, had become a cage of conflicting emotions.