Gemotions

The man sat, frozen in place, the hospital corridor lights seeming to bore into him. He didn’t register the hurried footsteps around him, the murmurs of passing nurses, the echoing beeps of unseen machines. The document in his hands detailed a severe allergy to peanuts. Peanut allergies, a condition he knew intimately, because it was his wife’s. He had always been so careful. His world shifted; a sense of disbelief slowly morphed into a chilling dread. His throat tightened, and he swallowed hard, feeling as if the air had been sucked from the room.