Gemotions

The email landed with a thud in her inbox. She’d been enjoying a rare moment of peace, the hum of the air conditioning a white noise backdrop to her spreadsheet. Now, the screen seemed to glare back, the words a neon sign of impending doom. *Acquisition Announcement.* Her breath hitched. The coffee she'd just poured felt suddenly bitter, metallic. She reread the message, each line an icy tendril snaking around her chest.

Her fingers fumbled for the phone, the familiar click of the buttons suddenly alien. She had to talk to someone, anyone, to make sense of this. But who? She felt a desperate urge to flee, to be anywhere but here, in this sterile office where her future was being decided without her say.

She slammed the laptop shut, the metallic snap echoing in the sudden quiet. The walls seemed to be closing in. She needed air.