Gemotions

She found herself cleaning, a frenetic energy propelling her from one task to another. Lisa scrubbed the counters, reorganized the pantry, and vacuumed the floor three times in rapid succession. She felt a need to be productive.

The thought of facing her colleagues, of seeing the subtle glances, the unspoken assessments, made her want to retreat. She felt the sudden urge to hide away. She kept glancing at the clock, each tick echoing in the silence of her apartment.

She needed to be ready, but she didn’t know what ready meant. She needed to do something, anything, to distract herself from the gnawing dread that had settled in her core. She felt a tremor in her hands.