Gemotions

The park looked beautiful, the leaves turning, the sunlight dappled, but it did not reach her. Sarah walked the path aimlessly, a brisk wind cutting through her sweater. The air felt thin, difficult to breathe. Paul, her husband, had been avoiding her gaze, his responses clipped, his phone constantly glued to his ear.


She recalled the brief, almost panicked look he'd given her the other day when she'd entered the room while he was on a call. The quick flick of the wrist as he ended the call, the way he'd mumbled something about a work issue. The memory played on repeat in her mind, each repetition twisting the knife a little deeper.


She sat on a bench, watching children play, their laughter a bright, unwelcome noise. The ache in her chest intensified, a dull throb that resonated with the silence he was creating. It was a silence filled with unspoken words, with secrets that were beginning to eat away at her.