Gemotions

The air conditioning had failed. Sweat beaded on Liam's forehead, mirroring the condensation that had formed on the steel doors. He felt a profound weariness, an exhaustion that went beyond physical discomfort. He felt brittle, like he might shatter if someone just looked at him the wrong way.

"This sucks," Chloe, his colleague, said, fanning herself with a magazine. Liam just nodded, unable to muster any enthusiasm for a shared sentiment.

He sat on the floor, legs stretched out. The cramped space felt like a microcosm of his life, a confined box where escape was impossible. He stared at his hands, watching them tremble slightly.

Chloe started telling a story about her cat. Liam listened, making the appropriate noises of acknowledgment, but his mind was somewhere far away, in a desolate landscape where no sunlight reached.