Gemotions

The silence that followed James' announcement was deafening. He had always been the pragmatic one, the logical one, the one who questioned everything. Now, he was embracing Wicca.

His father, a man of few words, simply stared at him, his face a mask of disbelief. She, his mother, fumbled with her coffee cup, sloshing the hot liquid onto the table. It seemed as if the world tilted slightly.

She could feel her heart hammering in her chest. Everything she knew about her son, about their shared history, felt challenged. The room seemed colder. The air was harder to breathe. She picked at the tablecloth, her fingers tracing the pattern, anything to avoid looking at James.