Gemotions

The fluorescent lights of the breakroom hummed, a sound that usually blended into the background, but today grated on Elias’s nerves. He stared at the half-eaten bagel on the table, willing it to disappear. The email, the one announcing the acquisition, lay unopened in his inbox. He didn't need to read it. He knew the drill. Another soulless corporation swallowing up something worthwhile, spitting out the husks. He shoved the bagel away.

He slammed his locker shut, the metal echoing loudly in the mostly empty hallway. The thought of having to explain his job, his projects, his expertise to *them* made his stomach churn. The new owners, whoever they were, probably wouldn't understand the nuances, the passion he’d poured into his work for the last eight years. He kicked a discarded soda can, sending it skittering across the linoleum.

He pictured the smug executives, the vultures circling, already planning the layoffs, the restructuring, the "synergies". He hated them, these people who saw only numbers and bottom lines. He grabbed his coat, the fabric feeling rough and itchy against his skin.