Gemotions

From the window, she watched as Mr. Harrison approached, the setting sun casting a long, ominous shadow. He wanted to get rid of the willow. He said it was blocking his sunlight. Sunlight.

Her palms were slick with sweat as she answered his knock. She kept the chain on the door. He was smiling again, that same false, unsettling smile. She could feel her heart slamming against her ribs.

“Perhaps, we could discuss this later?” she said, her voice strained. She felt a phantom pressure on her chest, a suffocating weight. She needed to be alone, to think, to... protect. As she closed the door, she rushed to lock all the windows, convinced that the house was no longer safe.