Gemotions

The world felt muted. Everything was slow, sluggish, as if viewed through a haze. Chloe had been avoiding her reflection all day, her own face unfamiliar and uninteresting. She sighed and sank onto the bench in the garden, the dampness of the wood seeping through her jeans. It was there, by the bench, that she saw it: A printout, lying face down on the ground, clearly dropped.

She picked it up, her fingers numb. On the first page, she saw the opening of a manuscript, titled, "The Porcelain Doll." The main character, "Willow," was, unmistakably, her. She started reading, her heart feeling heavy. The depiction of her felt, strangely, accurate. It detailed her meticulous routines, her forced smiles, the fragility she desperately guarded. She wanted to scream, to run.