Gemotions

He had been avoiding her, Claire realized, for the last week. Mark's usual boisterous energy was muted, his eyes shadowed. She found him in the spare room, hunched over his laptop. The air hung thick with the scent of stale coffee and unspoken words.

“Working late?” she asked, trying for a lightness she didn’t feel. He jumped, startled, then forced a smile.

“Just…finishing something up.” He quickly closed the laptop, the screen flashing an unfamiliar title. Later, curiosity gnawed at her. She crept back to the room and, finding the door unlocked, slipped inside. On the desk, the printer spat out pages. The first line of the document caught her eye: "The day Sarah realized her husband saw her as a burden."

Her stomach dropped, a cold, heavy stone in her gut. She backed away from the pages, overwhelmed. Her own life, her own insecurities, laid bare for all to see.