Gemotions

The doctor's office felt stifling to Maya, the air thick with unspoken tension. The report, the one detailing the similarities between her unpublished manuscript and the new Finch novel, felt heavy in her lap. Her hands trembled; she couldn’t meet the doctor’s eyes. Her jaw felt locked, her throat constricted.

She thought of the countless hours she had spent lost in Finch’s worlds, the way his words had shaped her own. Now, that reverence, that inspiration, felt tainted. A bizarre sensation pulsed through her, a mixture of disbelief and a strange sort of exhilaration, as though a secret had been revealed to her, or she had discovered something astonishing and unsettling.

She sat straighter, her back stiff against the chair. She had felt inspired to write her story by Finch. To discover the inspiration may have been… from her. She felt a powerful urge to laugh.