Gemotions

He stared at the envelope, a thick, expensive card stock, so unlike the cheap bills and junk mail that usually cluttered his countertop. His hands trembled as he opened it. Inside, a note. A single sentence. *“I should have been a better friend.”* Mark ran a hand through his thinning hair. It had been nearly twenty years.

The past crashed over him, a tidal wave of regret and forgotten slights. He remembered the feeling of being… diminished. He saw the person he had been. The choices he had made. A phantom ache throbbed behind his eyes, a constant reminder of the failure he had felt for so long.

He dropped the letter, the weight of the past pressing down on him. The silence in his apartment echoed the hollowness within. He found himself staring at his reflection in the darkened window, a stranger staring back.