Gemotions

The email sat in Amelia's inbox, bold and taunting. "AncestryDNA: Your Results Are In!" She'd clicked it out of curiosity, a fleeting whim to trace her family tree. Now, the screen swam. Her vision blurred, and she felt a pressure building behind her eyes. A strange, metallic taste coated her tongue. The words, so neatly arranged on the digital page, seemed to rearrange themselves into a threatening mass.

Her breath hitched in her chest. She stumbled backward, knocking over the precarious stack of library books on her coffee table. Papers scattered across the floor, each a sharp, unwelcome reminder of the life she thought she knew. She dropped to her knees, picking up a photograph of her parents, their smiles now feeling alien, their faces suddenly etched with a mystery she hadn't understood.

"What…" she whispered, the sound catching in her throat, a fragile thing that seemed to vibrate with a fear she hadn't even named.