Gemotions

The afternoon sun cast long shadows across the living room as Daniel stared at the TV screen, the images flickering and blurring. He hadn't touched his lunch, a cold, untouched sandwich sitting on the counter. Everything felt…sticky. This languor clung to him.

It was Mrs. Rodriguez. The name echoed in his head, a constant, nagging refrain. The same woman who'd crushed his dreams of being a class clown, who'd told him to "apply himself." Now she was shaping his daughter's, Maya's, young life.

He knew she would be a good teacher, but his own memories, the lingering sting of his own childhood, made him feel…trapped. He just wanted to shut the world out.