Gemotions

The school supply list lay on the counter, taunting him. "Ms. Finch, Kindergarten." Mark’s hands clenched into fists. Ms. Finch. The woman who had, without a word, failed him. He’d barely made it through school, and now his daughter was starting her journey.

He went to the school open day, but he could barely focus. He watched Ms. Finch with a carefully neutral expression, hoping to project an air of self-assurance he did not feel. His pulse hammered in his ears as she spoke to the other parents. They were so much better than him.

He felt a deep yearning to be a better parent, a better person. But the shadows of his past, reflected back at him in the present. The feeling of not being enough was suffocating.