Gemotions

He scrolled through the listing, each photo a stab to his heart. The living room, where he’d learned to ride his bike; the kitchen, where his mother taught him to bake. He felt the weight of years, of loss, pressing down on him. His throat constricted.

The description boasted about the “open-concept layout,” a phrase that seemed to mock the enclosed memories he carried. He felt a sense of displacement, of being adrift. He suddenly wanted to run, to hide.

He slammed the laptop shut, the sound echoing in the silent apartment. He needed to escape the ghosts of that house, the echoes of a past he couldn't reclaim.