Gemotions

The wallpaper in the living room – the floral monstrosity that Beatrice, her mother, had obsessed over – seemed to mock him. *Happy family*. *Perfect house*. He felt a knot tighten in his stomach. It wasn't perfect. Not with him back, a failure, a burden. He looked at the family portrait on the mantelpiece, their smiles fixed and empty.

He took a sharp knife from the kitchen. He methodically cut the heads out of the portrait. They stared back at him with headless, blank expressions.