Gemotions

The phone rang incessantly. Each call, each notification, was a fresh wound. They wanted quotes. They wanted an interview. They wanted *her*. The book, "Ethan’s Journey," had become a sensation. He’d seen the cover; his face, plastered across the front, contorted in a smile that wasn't his.

He stopped answering his phone. He turned off his social media. He stayed inside, the curtains drawn, the apartment plunged into a gloomy twilight. The silence was a balm, but a fragile one. The ghost of the book’s narrative haunted every corner.

He sat for hours, staring out the window, his gaze fixed on nothing. He felt exposed, stripped bare. Each word, each carefully crafted sentence, felt like an accusation. He picked at his fingernails until they bled.