Gemotions

Her breath caught in her throat. The screen flickered, the words mocking her. "By Thomas Ashton." The very words she had struggled over, sweated over, now belonged to another. She felt a sharp, stinging pain in her chest.

Her hands began to shake uncontrollably. She dropped her phone, the device clattering against the wooden floor, the noise a sharp crack in the silence. Her stomach twisted into a tight knot. She felt an overwhelming urge to cry.

She collapsed into her chair, her body suddenly heavy and leaden. The room spun. She needed something to ground her, a connection to reality, but she felt utterly lost, adrift in a sea of disbelief and rage.