Gemotions

The scent of coffee, usually a comfort, now felt cloying to Rowan. He was sitting at the breakfast table, a half-eaten plate of toast in front of him. The envelope had arrived the previous day, a letter from a woman claiming to be his half-sister, the result of a long-ago affair.

He pushed his plate away, suddenly finding the food repulsive. A knot of sadness tightened in his chest. He felt leaden, his limbs weighted down. He wanted to go back to bed, to escape the weight of the new information, the complexity it introduced into his life. He stared out the window, unseeing.

He just wanted the world to stop.