Gemotions

"So, Mark, you’re the new head honcho, huh?" John said, forcing a laugh as he raised his glass of water at the team lunch. The air in the restaurant was thick with the scent of expensive perfume and the clatter of silverware. He felt a growing detachment from it all.

He had expected to be celebrating today, but instead, he felt like an observer. He felt a vague sense of unease, a hollowness that seemed to emanate from his very core.

He picked at his Caesar salad, the leaves tasting bland and lifeless. He felt a profound lack of joy, a sense of being adrift in a sea of forced happiness.