Gemotions

I blinked, re-reading the username. It was her, it had to be her. But the filtered photos, the confident pronouncements, the coded messages… It was as if a different person lived inside my daughter, and I had never known it.

My chest felt constricted. I walked to the window, pulling the curtains closed. The sunlight felt accusatory. My hands clenched into fists. A knot formed in my stomach, a cold, hard lump of dread.

The house, usually a haven, suddenly seemed like a labyrinth, and I was utterly lost within it. I felt the overwhelming urge to run, to escape the crushing weight of this new reality.