Gemotions

The notification popped up on Amelia’s phone, a cheery little face smiling back at her. “Mark Thompson sent you a friend request.” Her fingers tightened around the phone. Mark Thompson. Twenty years. Twenty years she’d gone without seeing that smug, freckled face, and now… now he wanted to be friends?

She almost dropped the phone. A familiar churning began in her stomach, a bitter taste rising in her throat. Her knuckles turned white as she stared at the screen, the little “Confirm” button practically vibrating with an annoying enthusiasm.

Amelia’s apartment suddenly felt too small, the sunlight streaming in the window too bright. She paced, her jaw clenched, muttering under her breath. “Confirm? Absolutely not.” She needed air, needed to be somewhere other than trapped with that digital specter of her past.