Gemotions

The yellowed paper was tucked inside a music box, its delicate melody long silenced. It was a letter to her grandmother, detailing a childhood betrayal. Martha read the familiar words, her jaw clenching. Every sentence was a reminder of the years she had spent feeling betrayed.

She pictured her grandmother, the woman who had hurt her and whose memory now felt like ash in her mouth. She took a lighter from her pocket, the metal cool against her palm. She held the letter over the flame, watching the paper curl and blacken, the words dissolving into smoke.