Gemotions

The key scraped in the lock, a sound that sliced through the silence. Elias felt a tremor in his hands as he pushed the door open. Dust motes danced in the lone ray of sunlight, illuminating a hallway that seemed to stretch into a forgotten abyss. He coughed, the air thick with the scent of aged wood and something else, something indefinable that prickled at the back of his neck.

He called out his sister's name, his voice thin and hesitant. Only the echo answered him. He stepped inside, his boots crunching on the brittle linoleum. He didn’t want to be here, not really. This house felt like it was holding its breath, waiting.

He ran a hand over his face, trying to scrub away the unsettling feeling that clung to him like a second skin. He needed to get this done, to catalog the items, to get the house ready to sell. But the shadows in the corners of the rooms seemed to shift and writhe, and he felt a growing pressure in his chest.