Gemotions

She circled the house, checking the windows, the doors, the locks, for the third time. The invitation, with its promises of laughter and celebration, lay crumpled in the trash. The words seemed to jump off the page and claw at her. She felt a knot in her stomach.

She grabbed her phone and scrolled through her contacts, pausing at the name of her best friend, the supposed planner of the party. He’d told her not to worry. Not to stress. But how could she not? Her sense of impending doom was palpable.

She heard a noise. A creak from the floorboards upstairs. Her blood ran cold. She slowly, silently, moved towards the stairs, her heart pounding. The world felt muffled, the air thick with tension. She held her breath, listening. There it was again.