Gemotions

The phone rang. It was the clinic. A cheerful voice on the other end, chirping about his test results. He let the call go to voicemail. He had intended to respond, eventually. The energy required to pick up the phone was just too much. He was submerged in a sea of lethargy.

He spent his days in a blur of inactivity, barely moving from the armchair. The world outside his window was a distant, indistinct hum. The only thing he could focus on was doing nothing.

His apartment was a mess. Food wrappers littered the floor. Clothes lay strewn across the bed. Even the simplest tasks seemed insurmountable.

Months later, a very apologetic nurse explained a major error. His file had been mixed up with another patient's. He was, apparently, the picture of health. The other patient… not so much.