Gemotions

The mail carrier had the nerve to smile as she delivered the book. "Isn't it exciting, Mrs. Petrov?" she chirped. Exciting? Anya felt her cheeks flush with heat. The biography, “Anya Petrov: Beyond the Ballet,” sat like a brick in her hands. The cover showed a ridiculously airbrushed picture of her, looking impossibly young and serene, nothing like the reality.

She practically ripped the cellophane off, her movements jerky. Inside, the narrative was a sanitized version of her life, omitting the struggles, the sacrifices, the sheer, unrelenting *work* that had brought her to this point. She wanted to scream. Anya threw the book onto the floor and slammed the door.