Gemotions

The request, from "Jessica Miller," made her body stiffen. It felt like a trap, this digital connection back to a time she’d worked so hard to bury. She immediately considered a frantic block.

She found herself gripping the edge of the kitchen counter, knuckles white. The scent of the simmering stew she had planned for dinner now seemed acrid, the aromas failing to provide comfort as she normally found with cooking.

Her gaze drifted to the window, the setting sun painting the sky in fiery hues. She felt a pressing need to breathe, to go outside, to be anywhere but here, confronting this unwelcome echo of the past.