Gemotions

The news report played in a loop on the television, repeating the details of the scandal: renowned author, Eleanor Vance, accused of lifting entire passages from an obscure, unpublished novel. Sarah, the aspiring writer, felt a coldness creep through her bones. She couldn't breathe. This felt like a violation.

She sat motionless on her sofa, her hands clenched into fists. She felt a deep, sharp pain in her chest, as if something inside her had been ripped away. She looked around her apartment, a space she had once cherished, and now saw it differently, as a stage of the betrayal.

She grabbed a decorative pillow and hurled it across the room, watching it hit the opposite wall. It bounced and fell to the floor. She felt a surge of something, a dark, satisfying pleasure. It was the first act of defiance.