Gemotions

"Can't you tell them to stop?" Mark asked his wife, his voice tight. He felt a throbbing sensation in his temples. The incessant noise was a direct assault on his senses.

He started avoiding the living room, the room that shared a wall with the construction. He retreated to his study. His usual concentration vanished; he couldn't think. He checked the time over and over, marking off the hours until the workday would end.

The nights were worse. He'd lie in bed, rigid, waiting for the next noise, the next tremor. He kept imagining the worst-case scenario. It became an obsession.