Gemotions

The flickering fluorescent lights of the hospital waiting room swam before Amelia's eyes. She blinked, trying to clear her vision, but the words on the doctor’s lips, repeated countless times in her mind, still echoed. "Fibrous dysplasia...in both legs…and your spine." A knot tightened in her stomach. Across from her, a man with a shock of unruly grey hair and a similar, almost skeletal frame, sat motionless. He looked…familiar, in a way she couldn't place.

He finally spoke, his voice raspy. "So…this is it, then?" He gestured vaguely to the sterile, white-walled room. His eyes were wide, and he avoided her gaze. He picked at a loose thread on his jeans.

She nodded, unable to articulate the turmoil that churned within her. The realization was a weight, pressing down on her chest. She had finally learned what was wrong with her, but seeing it manifest in another person, so vividly, left her with a feeling she couldn't quite name.