Gemotions

"That's… not right," Mark muttered, his voice barely a breath. The email notification was sitting there, taunting him. A confirmation of publication for his short story, "Echoes of the Past." But the author was listed as "Sarah Chen." He felt like the air had been sucked out of the room.

He stood up abruptly, knocking his chair over, the sound echoing in the stillness. He started pacing, his steps frantic and erratic. He felt a cold sweat break out on his forehead. He ran his hand through his hair, tugging at it, as if trying to physically extract the disbelief from his skull.

He wanted to scream, to make the world stop spinning. He wanted to understand how this could have happened. He picked up his phone, then put it back down, paralyzed by the sheer absurdity of it all.