Gemotions

The clicking of keyboards echoed in the cavernous office. It was a sound that had once been familiar, comforting, a symphony of progress. Now, it grated on Elias’s nerves. He looked at the woman sitting beside him, her brow furrowed in concentration. Amelia. His replacement.

He felt a strange, detached curiosity about her. He should be showing her the ropes, explaining the intricacies of their projects. But the ropes felt frayed, the knots unidentifiable. His mind was blank, like a pristine whiteboard.

He gestured vaguely at the computer screen. “Um… so… you see this file?” His voice wavered. His own work felt distant and disconnected, like a faded photograph. He felt a desperate urge to run, to escape the suffocating weight of this new reality.