Gemotions

The elevator doors opened onto the seventh floor, and Emily felt her stomach churn. Dr. Harding’s office. The name hadn't meant anything until she’d seen the photo online. Patrick Harding. The boy who’d tormented her relentlessly on the playground. Now he was a counselor?

She wanted to run, to disappear back into the safety of the elevator. But the pressure of her current crisis had brought her here. She stepped into the waiting room, and her breath caught.

The space was designed to soothe, but all she felt was a tightening in her chest. She saw a framed picture of him, smiling, the same infuriating grin he'd always worn. It was taunting her.

When his door opened, she walked toward it as though she was being pulled by an unseen force. She felt the urge to hit him.