Gemotions

The late afternoon sun cast long shadows across the living room. They were relaxing, she with a book and him with his phone. The silence was comfortable, the way it always was. Then, he chuckled. It was a familiar sound, but the words that followed weren’t.

He was watching a video, and the audio was a language she understood. But it was *his* voice speaking the words. Her heart pounded in her chest, a frantic drumbeat. She suddenly felt the need to flee the room, to escape the sounds.

She tried to laugh, to brush it off, but the sound caught in her throat. She needed a moment to reset, to process. She rose slowly and walked towards the window, staring out at the world as if she'd never seen it before.

The comfortable familiarity of the room felt like a trick.