Gemotions

Her hands were shaking so badly, she almost dropped the phone. The news, delivered with a casual, almost breezy tone, had punched the wind right out of her. Across the country? Across the *country*! That was the sort of thing people did in movies, not in real life, not to *her*.

"You're… you're just saying this now?" she managed to croak, her voice barely a whisper. The familiar voice on the other end, the voice that always calmed her, now felt like a betrayal.

She paced her living room, her steps quick and frantic, as if she could somehow outrun the unwelcome reality. The brightly colored cushions on the couch, the carefully arranged photos on the bookshelf—all mocked her with their permanence, their stability. She wanted to scream, to shatter something, to make this all a mistake.