Gemotions

The moment Sarah saw the notification on her phone, her fingers fumbled, dropping the device onto the hardwood floor. The screen cracked. The invitation. She picked it up, her hands trembling.

A coldness spread through her, starting at her toes and creeping upwards. She paced the kitchen, the linoleum cold beneath her bare feet. The vivid memory of the awkward dances, the stinging rejections, flooded her mind.

She opened the refrigerator, then closed it again, unable to decide what to eat. The thought of the judgment, of the whispers, the unspoken expectations, made her want to disappear. "No, no, no," she muttered under her breath, a plea lost in the sudden, echoing emptiness of her apartment.