Gemotions

The envelope crumpled in her grasp as she reread the paragraph, the words twisting and turning into an incomprehensible jumble. The neatly typed sentences had morphed into something alien, a cruel joke. Her throat constricted. She struggled to swallow, as if a physical barrier had suddenly materialized there. She dropped the envelope. It landed on the pristine white tablecloth, like a fallen petal.

She wanted to scream, to lash out, but the words caught in her throat, strangled by the sheer impossibility of what she'd just read. She felt a tremor run through her body, starting at her toes and ending in her jaw, which began to tremble. Her eyes darted around the room, as if searching for a hidden camera, or a clue that it was all a prank.