Gemotions

The air in my apartment felt thick, stagnant. I wandered aimlessly from room to room, touching objects, but feeling nothing. Days had passed, each one a mirror of the last, a bleak reflection of my stagnant life. I felt adrift, without direction, without purpose.

I received a postcard in the mail. A picture of a smiling couple, and a small advertisement on the back. "New Practice Open: Dr. Peter Collins, LCSW." My heart skipped a beat. Peter Collins. The boy who’d always been bigger, stronger, the one who’d relished making me feel small.

I crumpled the postcard in my hand, then smoothed it out. The irony was almost unbearable. He, the source of so much pain, now a healer. I threw the postcard on the kitchen table and paced. He was now a figure of authority, with all the tools of his profession to work on me. I didn’t know why, but I felt a sudden urge to know more.