Gemotions

The coffee cup rattled in her hand as Clara reached for the letter. Her entire body felt wound up, like a tightly coiled spring ready to snap. She had been jumpy all day, easily startled by the smallest sounds. It was the suddenness of it all that was the worst; a forgotten name, a past she thought she had buried.

The handwriting, a florid, unfamiliar script, sent a prickle of goosebumps across her arms. She couldn't focus; her vision blurred, and the words danced around the page. She felt a sudden, powerful urge to run, to distance herself from the approaching storm.

She took a shaky breath and leaned back in her chair, struggling to maintain a semblance of calm. The world seemed to shrink around her, the air thick with unspoken things. This letter, this acknowledgement, was a disruption of the carefully constructed peace she had built for herself.