Gemotions

She slammed the book shut, the sound echoing in the otherwise silent apartment. *Behind the Mask: The Isabella Rossi Story*. The audacity! She felt a flush creep up her neck, a heat that prickled her skin. It was a lie, a carefully constructed fiction that masqueraded as her life. The author, some nobody she’d never met, had somehow woven a narrative around her, drawing from… where?

Her breath hitched as she paced the living room, the book a burning weight in her hand. She thought of calling her lawyer. Or the police. Or maybe just screaming until her voice gave out. She felt a knot tighten in her stomach, twisting and turning like a venomous snake. The sheer invasion of it all was… unnerving.