Gemotions

The familiar street was different, alien. The house, repainted a garish yellow, stood stark and unfamiliar. But the space in the garden was undeniably bare. A hollow spot in the lawn where the sturdy trunk had once stood. Her breath caught in her chest, a painful knot forming.

She'd come to escape. To find solace in the memory of a simpler time. Instead, an unfamiliar heaviness settled in her bones. She reached out, her hand hovering over the empty ground, wanting to touch, to confirm, yet unable to bring herself to do so. The ache in her chest intensified with each passing second.

"They just don't get it," she mumbled, her voice cracking.