Gemotions

The yellowed paper crackled in her trembling fingers. “Go to Burning Man.” “Learn to play the ukulele.” His words, scrawled in black ink, seemed to leap from the page and attack her. She felt like someone had just punched her in the gut.

She’d thought she knew him. They had built a life together, a quiet, comfortable existence. This list, however, spoke of a different man, a stranger with desires she hadn’t glimpsed. A shiver ran down her spine, and she dropped the list onto the table, as if it were a venomous snake.

The silence of the house pressed in on her, heavy and suffocating. She began to pace the floor, the only sound the frantic thudding of her own heart. She felt a growing sense of isolation, alone with this unsettling secret.