Gemotions

He’d always envisioned the oak, planted by his little hands, towering over his childhood home. Now, a jagged scar remained, a testament to the fact of its demise. A fist clenched at his side. A hard, cold knot formed in his stomach. He wasn't sure why it mattered so much.

“What in the world…?” he muttered, the words barely audible. He kicked at a loose piece of bark, sending it skittering across the dry earth. A strange and heavy stillness settled over him, the silence of loss that echoed in the vacant space where the tree once stood.