Gemotions

The aroma of freshly baked bread usually soothed her, but now it felt cloying. Liam had been acting strangely, distant and preoccupied, their usual closeness replaced by a wall of polite silence. The house, usually vibrant with laughter, was eerily quiet. She found his handwritten manuscript tucked under the mattress, a notebook with a simple title: "The Weight of Emily."

As she read, her breath hitched. The protagonist was an embodiment of everything she felt, everything she feared. The words spoke of a woman weighed down by the burden of her own imperfections, a woman slowly succumbing to her own flaws.

Her body felt numb, and the world began to tilt on its axis. She was adrift, lost at sea. She felt suddenly very small.