Gemotions

The metal of the car door was cold against her hand. A chill that went straight through to her bones. The keys were still inside, where she'd left them. A careless mistake. A mistake that felt deliberate now.

She sank to the ground, pulling her knees to her chest. The neighbor's dog barked, a shrill, insistent sound that grated on her nerves. The tow truck was already gone, the damage done.

The silence that followed was deafening, broken only by the echo of her own shallow breaths. She felt a profound emptiness, a feeling that clawed at her insides.