Gemotions

The phone call arrived like a thunderclap. The editor, apologetic, explained the "oversight." An oversight? Years of painstaking work, countless revisions, reduced to a clerical error. The fury swelled within him, a dark tide threatening to overwhelm. He wanted to scream.

He gripped the phone so tightly his knuckles turned white. His voice felt tight, constricted. He struggled to maintain a semblance of control. When the call ended, he threw the phone across the room. The plastic cracked against the wall. He needed to find a way to contain this destructive force.