Gemotions

Elara had just finished her morning coffee, the taste of the bitter liquid still clinging to her tongue. Then the email arrived. Her stomach lurched. Her father, a man she considered a ghost, had been involved in a relationship before her mother. Another child. A brother.

She felt a wave of nausea wash over her. She gripped the edge of the kitchen counter, her knuckles white. Sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating dust motes dancing in the air, but she barely registered it. This was a parallel universe, she decided. One she never wanted to visit.

She reread the email, her eyes darting from word to word. She wanted to scream. She wanted to run. She wanted to understand the sudden, baffling shift in her life. She needed to know everything, but at the same time, it felt like an invasion.