Gemotions

The atmosphere in the apartment felt thick and stale, the air heavy with the residue of unfulfilled expectations. Ethan looked at his reflection in the mirror, searching for something, anything, to alleviate the sense of… incompleteness that had settled in his bones.

He paced the living room, the polished floorboards reflecting his solitary movements. He yearned for something alive, something to break the monotony of the day.

“I was thinking,” he started, his voice barely audible, approaching his roommate, Leo. “A bearded dragon, perhaps?”

Leo raised an eyebrow. “Reptiles? No way, man. They’re creepy.”

Ethan retreated, a familiar sense of disappointment washing over him. The world outside seemed to shrink.