Gemotions

"It's a joke," Maria whispered, her voice barely audible. She was sitting at her kitchen table, staring at the financial statements. Mrs. Rodriguez, who she’d always considered to be struggling, was a multi-millionaire. The numbers swam before her eyes, blurring into a meaningless mess.

She felt a pressure building in her head, a dull, throbbing ache. The world around her seemed to tilt, to spin. She’d always judged her life based on the standards of her neighbors, and now, those standards had been completely redefined. She closed her eyes, trying to block out the images, the thoughts.

Her breath hitched in her chest. She felt a wave of nausea, a sudden and overwhelming urge to cry. She pushed back from the table, desperate to escape the confines of the room, to flee the information that was slowly suffocating her.