Gemotions

The coffee tasted like ash. Mark swirled the bitter liquid in his mug, the ceramic cool against his clammy hands. The announcement, delivered in a bland company-wide email, had stolen the morning’s focus. He felt a disconnect, a strange unmooring. He looked out the window at the familiar city skyline, but it seemed… different. Unstable.

He tried to focus on the presentation he was preparing, but the words blurred on the screen. His thoughts scattered, flitting from the potential layoffs to the unknown future. He pushed back from his desk, the chair groaning under his weight. He needed air.

He paced the sterile hallway, his hand unconsciously rubbing his forehead. He usually found solace in the methodical routine of his work, but today the structure was gone. The foundation had crumbled.