Gemotions

The airport felt oppressively close. Sarah fanned herself with a crumpled boarding pass, her face flushed with a heat that wasn’t entirely from the air conditioning. The wedding was in three hours, and her flight was still listed as “awaiting crew.”

She glared at the smiling faces on the magazine covers in the newsstand. Everything seemed designed to irritate her. She bumped shoulders with someone trying to pass, muttering a curt apology before continuing her slow, angry march.

A child’s squealing laughter echoed through the terminal. Sarah clenched her fists, feeling a familiar tightness in her chest. She needed to be there, to support her best friend. Now, that felt impossible.