Gemotions

The scent of old paper and fading ink filled Tom’s nostrils, a scent he usually found comforting. Today, however, it was unsettling. His grandmother, the paragon of virtue in the family stories, was pictured in a nightclub. In another, she was holding a bottle, with a face Tom did not recognize.

His throat felt constricted. He felt as though the air had been sucked out of the room. He ran his hand over his face.

He got up and began to pace, unable to shake the feeling of disquiet. He tried to think of his grandmother, and then thought of the photographs. The photographs, and the stories.