Gemotions

Clara stood in the center of the living room, the room she had decorated herself. It felt wrong, now. The realtor’s revelations about the past, the whispered details of the tragedy that had occurred within these walls, hung in the air. She felt a profound and unsettling sense of displacement.

She ran her hand over the smooth surface of the fireplace mantel, her fingers tracing the intricate carvings. She sat down on the sofa, her shoulders slumped. The soft cushions offered no comfort. She wanted to scream, to lash out, but she couldn’t. A heavy, blank numbness had taken hold.

She closed her eyes, trying to visualize the room as it must have been then, before her. She failed. All she saw was darkness, a void that mirrored the emptiness inside her.