Gemotions

The silence in the office was suffocating. He watched the newbie, Emily, carefully as she took notes. The scratch of her pen was a sharp, grating sound. He felt a strange compulsion to dismantle things, to pull apart the stapler, to tear the pages from the manuals. His breath caught in his throat.

"Okay, next up, the client reports," he said, his voice barely a whisper. He realized he was speaking in the same monotone as the pre-recorded training videos. Was he becoming a robot too? He hated the thought.

He felt an impulse to scream, to lash out. He pushed the feeling down. Instead, he forced a smile, a grotesque caricature of friendliness.