Gemotions

He paced her apartment, the hardwood floor creaking under each stride. Sunlight streamed in, illuminating the dust motes dancing in the air, but all she saw was red. Her sister, Sarah, had called, gushing about Lily's new “friend.” The drawings – the *awful* drawings – had been sent by text. This time, Barnaby had a top hat. The audacity of it, the sheer *nerve* of that…thing.

She’d spent hours yesterday trying to find the old box of childhood keepsakes, the one with the tattered stuffed animal, the one she burned years ago. The empty box mocked her. She had a sudden, violent urge to break something, to tear down the walls. A headache throbbed behind her eyes, a relentless drumbeat against her skull.

Her jaw clenched as she called Sarah back, her tone sharp and clipped. "Lily needs therapy. She needs to stop."