Gemotions

"Did you take your medication this morning, honey?" The question, delivered with gentle concern, felt like a barbed wire. Leo ran a hand over his face. He'd been back for three days, and his mother's over-attentive care was pushing him to his limits. The offer of help, the offers to help, the gentle questions, they were all wearing him down.

"Yes, Mom," he replied, his tone flat. He wanted to scream. He wanted to say, “I'm thirty-five, and I'm not a child anymore!” but the words wouldn't come. He just wanted her to leave him alone to his thoughts, to his failures, to his future, whatever it may be.