Gemotions

The book lay open on the kitchen counter, the spine cracked, the cover proclaiming: *The Unvarnished Truth: The Life of Eleanor Vance.* She clawed at her throat, the words a physical pressure, constricting her airway. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be.

A scream, tight and strangled, escaped her. She slammed the book shut, the sound echoing in the sudden, suffocating quiet. Images flickered: her childhood home, the college dorm, the disastrous first date. All laid bare. All written.

Her vision tunneled. She stumbled backward, bumping into the island. Her fingers scrabbled for purchase on the smooth granite, as if the surface could ground her. She sank to the floor, her breath coming in shallow, ragged gasps.