Gemotions

The courtroom, usually a place of cold formality, felt suddenly hot and cramped. The lawyer cleared his throat, each word a pronouncement of her new reality. Her brother, Charles, a man of vast ambition, would inherit the family's substantial investment portfolio. She, on the other hand, was given a single, dilapidated carousel horse, painted in garish colors.

She felt a prickling sensation on her skin. The blood drained from her face. She felt a burning need to disappear.

“A carousel horse?” she repeated, the words sounding foreign even to her own ears.