Gemotions

"Did you get it yet?" Leo’s voice, sharp with anticipation, crackled over the phone. I clutched the phone tighter, the plastic cold against my ear. A thick envelope, bearing our grandfather's familiar, looping handwriting, sat on the kitchen counter.

"Yeah," I replied, my voice a strained whisper. The anticipation that had been building for weeks was now a tight knot in my chest. I’d anticipated… something more tangible.

Opening the envelope, I found a single photograph. It depicted a nondescript farmhouse, shrouded in mist, the surrounding fields empty. Nothing else. No letter, no explanation. Just the image. I exhaled slowly, my shoulders slumping. What did it mean? I felt this deep, crawling sense of… something unwelcome.

Leo’s frustrated sigh came through the phone. "What is it?"

"Just… a picture." I felt a sudden urge to get off the phone, to be away from the prying questions.