Gemotions

The air in the breakroom felt thick, suffocating. Maria stared at the microwave, willing the timer to hurry. The microwave clicked and hummed. She realized, with a shock, that she had forgotten to even put anything in it.

She had overheard the conversation between Jessica and Emily, overheard Jessica’s salary details. A coldness, a glacial shift, had settled within her. She felt drained, as if all her energy had been siphoned away.

Later, she went home and sat on the couch, the remote clutched uselessly in her hand. The television flickered, the images meaningless. The silence of the apartment was a vast, echoing emptiness. The world suddenly felt off-kilter, skewed.