Gemotions

The email sat in Amelia’s inbox, glowing with an ominous light. She’d been expecting the results from the ancestry DNA test, a frivolous exercise, she'd thought, borne of boredom and a slow Tuesday afternoon. She clicked it open, the image of the family tree she’d meticulously built suddenly blurring before her eyes. The percentages. The names. None of it aligned. She leaned back in her chair, the sudden stillness of the office a deafening contrast to the rapid hammering in her chest. Her breath hitched. She blinked, once, twice. Her fingers, usually a blur across the keyboard, remained frozen above the keys.

She scrolled down, her gaze tracking the alien names. A cold dread seeped into her limbs, turning them to lead. She felt an odd detachment, as if watching a movie of her life, where the plot had just violently shifted. Picking up her phone, she fumbled with it, clumsily dialing her mother's number. The dial tone whined in her ear, each ring an eternity.