Gemotions

"Could you, uh...turn that down, please?" she said, her voice thin and reedy, a far cry from the confident woman she used to be. The music, a relentlessly cheerful pop song, thumped through the wall.

The young man at the door barely glanced up from his phone. "What?" he asked, not bothering to make eye contact. His headphones were slung around his neck.

She repeated herself, louder this time, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks. He sighed dramatically, finally looking at her. "Yeah, yeah, sure," he mumbled, closing the door in her face.

The music went down a notch, but the damage was done. She stood there for a moment, her hands clenched, feeling a coldness seep into her bones. She turned and walked back into her apartment, the silence a suffocating weight.