Gemotions

The air in the room felt thick, heavy, as though pressing down on her chest. Maria studied the photographs, each one a sharp blow to the solar plexus. Her mother, the paragon of virtue, the picture of sacrifice, had been living a secret life she hadn't known about. She ran a hand through her hair, a frantic gesture of bewilderment. The comfortable world she inhabited, the world she thought she knew, was a fragile illusion. She felt a profound sense of isolation, a detachment from everything familiar.