Gemotions

The meeting room felt cold, the air conditioning blasting directly onto her neck. Sarah sat at the end of the long table, the empty chairs reflecting the emptiness inside her. Across from her, David laughed with the department head, the sound bouncing off the walls, a sound she felt excluded from. She fiddled with her pen, feeling a strange tightness in her throat.

She usually ate lunch with her team, but today she had retreated to her desk, not wanting to hear the congratulations that would be aimed at David. She pushed her untouched salad around the plate, the crisp lettuce mocking her disinterest. The thought of another evening spent staring at the television, lost in a sea of impersonal media, suddenly seemed unbearable.

She tried to focus on the presentation slides, but the words blurred, and her vision swam. The desire to scream, to run, was overwhelming.