Gemotions

Rain lashed against the windows, mimicking the rhythm of Elias's heart, a slow, heavy drumbeat. He sat in the worn armchair, a half-finished cup of coffee cooling on the side table. The silence of the apartment, usually comforting, pressed in on him tonight. It had been like this ever since Maya had started spending hours locked away in the spare room, claiming she was busy with "work." He'd brushed it off, chalking it up to a new project.

He’d finally cracked. He found it last night, tucked away in her laptop files—a novel, with his name, thinly veiled, as the main character. The protagonist, a man haunted by the past, much like him, and the ending was bleak and hopeless.

He rubbed his eyes, a dull ache settling behind them. He wondered what part of him she had found so worthy of writing. And why she hated him so.