Gemotions

My head throbbed. I’d stumbled upon Liam’s account by sheer accident, a stray notification that had popped up on my phone. The bio read, "Just a vibe," and the feed was a chaotic mix of filtered selfies and cryptic posts. My son, the quiet reader, the boy who preferred video games and hoodies, was... this?

I sat heavily on the edge of his bed, the neatly made space now seeming like a carefully constructed facade. A knot formed in my chest. Each picture, each carefully curated caption, chipped away at the foundation of what I thought I knew.

A coldness settled in my limbs. I felt lost, adrift. The world seemed suddenly tilted. I closed my eyes, trying to recapture the familiar warmth of his presence, the comfort of his easy smile, but all I could see was the glowing screen, the alien face staring back at me.