Gemotions

The laptop hummed, its screen still glowing with the last words he’d typed: "Her eyes, usually sparkling with mirth, were clouded with…something. Regret? Resignation? Or perhaps, something far more chilling." Sarah felt a tremor run through her. She slammed the lid shut, the click echoing in the sudden quiet of their apartment. Her breath hitched.

She went to the sink and splashed cold water on her face, but the image of those words, that character – *her* – remained burned into her eyelids. It was more than a little unsettling to know he was examining her so closely, dissecting her very essence for his…fictional purposes.

Later, she found herself avoiding his gaze, the warmth that usually blossomed in her chest at his presence replaced by a prickly tension. When he tried to put his arm around her, she stiffened, her body reacting as though to a sudden chill.