Gemotions

The phone slipped from her grasp, clattering onto the desk. Lisa stared, unblinking, at the email. The subject line was innocuous: "Performance Review." But the attachment... the attachment was a salary grid, inadvertently sent to the entire department. And there, plain as day, was the salary of her new team lead, Greg. It was significantly higher than hers. She felt a wave of dizziness wash over her.

She scrambled to pick up the phone, her fingers clumsy. She dialed her husband, but the ringing tone felt endless. She needed to tell someone, to share this sudden, crushing weight. Her vision blurred, and the office seemed to spin.

The constant beeping of the computer, the hum of the air conditioning, were suddenly magnified, overwhelming. She was trapped, suffocating. She dropped the phone back onto the receiver, the plastic cracking under the impact.