Gemotions

“Another one?” Leo asked, his voice catching in his throat. He stared at the empty chair across the table, at the unfinished chess game that lay between them. He sat across from his mentor.

His grandfather, a master strategist, had vanished from the nursing home. A note, that was all. It said he was going for a trip. No address. No return date.

Leo’s breath felt shallow. He reached out, touching the cold chess pieces. The game felt heavy, as if the pieces themselves weighed tons. He traced the knight, the rook. The silence in the room screamed.

He felt a deep sense of wrongness. The empty chair, the incomplete game, the unsaid goodbyes. It was a puzzle he didn’t know how to solve. He needed to find him.