Gemotions

He found the letter tucked under his door, a creamy envelope that felt expensive. His heart did a little flip in his chest. A lawyer's name was printed on the top left. He stared at it, the words blurring slightly. He dropped it on his counter. He stood frozen there, unable to move, unable to breathe.

He felt the sudden urge to clean, to scrub the grime of the city from his small kitchen. The thought was strange; he never cleaned. He started wiping down the countertops with a damp rag, methodically, his movements jerky and inefficient. His reflection in the window showed a man whose face was pale and drawn. The familiar view of the city felt wrong, like a stage set about to collapse. He hadn’t felt like this since, well, he couldn’t place it.