Gemotions

He sat on the park bench, watching the children play. Their laughter felt like a distant melody. The weight of his unaccomplished life settled heavily on his shoulders. He felt like a faded photograph.

His brother’s daughter, Maya, ran up to him, her cheeks flushed. She held up a drawing of a smiling tree with arms and legs.

“This is Branch,” she said. “He knows all the secrets of the forest.”

He looked closely at the drawing. Branch. He remembered his own forest-friend. An unfamiliar sense of emptiness settled deep inside him.