Gemotions

The clatter of the tools and the shouted instructions outside were a constant soundtrack to his misery. He sat at the kitchen table, staring at a half-eaten bowl of cereal. He pushed it away. He had no appetite.

His eyes drifted out the window. The new fence was a hulking presence, dividing the world. A physical manifestation of the emotional distance that seemed to be growing between him and everything he used to love. He felt isolated and alone.

He got up and started washing dishes with a furious energy, as if scrubbing the plates clean would somehow erase the looming shadows of the new fence. He wanted to erase the whole day.