Gemotions

Rain lashed against the windows, mirroring the bleakness in Amelia's chest. She wrapped her arms around herself, a futile attempt at warmth in her sterile apartment. The results had arrived that morning, a cold email from the DNA testing company. She’d always felt a bit… adrift. Now, the vague sense of not quite belonging had crystallized into a brutal truth. Her parents weren’t *her* parents. A pang of emptiness echoed through her. She felt a profound sense of isolation.

She pushed herself off the couch, the fabric clinging to her like a second skin. Staring into the blankness of her refrigerator, she closed the door. Hunger was a distant thing, a chore. She opened her laptop, and staring at the screen for an hour, she turned it off without having moved past the google search.

The silence of the evening amplified the hollow ache within.