Gemotions

The relentless tick of the grandfather clock in her empty house echoed the emptiness in Eleanor’s heart. Her children, grown and flown, had left a silence that suffocated her. She felt like a forgotten relic herself, gathering dust in the grand, echoing rooms. A yard sale seemed as good a way as any to kill a few hours.

Scanning the cluttered tables, she found herself inexplicably drawn to a box filled with old toys. And there, nestled amongst a collection of forgotten treasures, was her childhood companion. Buttons, the bear her father had given her, who now looked more tattered and faded than she remembered. A wave of exhaustion washed over her.

“How much for the bear?” she asked the young man running the sale, her voice barely a whisper. He quoted a price, which she gladly paid. Back in her car, the bear sat beside her, silent, a familiar face in the desolate landscape of her current existence. She drove home, the silence no less deafening, but somehow, a little more… bearable.