Gemotions

The email sat in Amelia's inbox, bold and taunting. "AncestryDNA Results - Your Family History." She’d spit into a tube, expecting a fun afternoon of pie charts. Now, the kitchen felt cold, even with the oven blasting. Her hands trembled as she clicked the link. The faces staring back at her weren’t hers. Not in the way she’d always known. Her stomach churned.

She slammed the laptop shut, the metallic clang echoing in the silence of her meticulously decorated apartment. Amelia ran to the bathroom, the carefully chosen tiles suddenly mocking her. She stared at her reflection, the features she'd always taken for granted now alien. A wave of nausea hit. She gripped the sink, knuckles white.

Later, she found herself staring at the framed photographs in the living room. Her parents, smiling, holding her as a toddler. Did they know? The thought clawed at her throat, making it hard to breathe. She ripped the photos from the wall, scattering them on the floor, the glass shattering. A sob escaped her, ragged and unfamiliar.