Gemotions

The email arrived, a digital serpent slithering into his inbox. He stared at it for a long moment, the cursor blinking mockingly on the screen. He avoided clicking on it for nearly an hour, instead opening and closing unrelated emails, each movement deliberate and slow. It sat there, a ticking time bomb.

He finally opened the invitation. The website was awash in brightly colored photos, the faces of his classmates staring back at him. Some he recognized instantly, others were blurry, their features softened by time and distance. He felt a tremor in his hand as he scrolled through the list of attendees.

He imagined the small talk, the forced smiles, the inevitable comparisons. He envisioned the inevitable questions about his career, his relationship status, his life. His fingers tightened into a fist. He closed the browser, his heart hammering against his ribs. He wanted to delete the email, to pretend he hadn't seen it, to erase the very existence of the reunion.