Gemotions

Martha looked at the notification on her phone, "Mark Olsen wants to be friends." A wave of nausea hit her. He was the boy who had spread that awful rumor in eighth grade. She clutched the phone so hard it almost cracked.

She excused herself from the dinner party, claiming a sudden headache. The polite smiles of the other guests felt like a physical pressure on her chest. All she wanted was to be alone. She went out to the patio and stared at the dark trees, a familiar, uncomfortable sensation tightening in her throat.

She knew she should be over it, that it was all in the past. But she couldn't. She felt like that frightened, small teenager all over again.