Gemotions

The drive to the event had been silent, the car filled with a tension he couldn't name. He kept replaying the speech in his mind, but the words felt hollow, lacking substance. He felt as if a heavy weight was crushing his chest.

The decorations, the music, the smiling faces, all felt wrong, like a carefully constructed façade. He watched his father, laughing and shaking hands, and saw a man he barely knew.

He found himself staring at the food table, the endless array of hors d'oeuvres seeming to mock his inability to find peace. The speech hung over him like a dark cloud, its delivery a looming catastrophe.