Gemotions

Maya’s fingers hovered over the “Follow” button on Mr. Henderson’s profile. It was a suggested account, one of the many Instagram algorithms thought she might enjoy. His profile picture was innocuous enough: a blurry shot of him in a hiking hat, somewhere in a forest. She’d always found him kind, if a little… intense. Now, her chest felt suddenly tight, a constriction that made it hard to breathe.

She scrolled through his sparse feed. Mostly photos of his dog, and a couple of nature shots. Nothing obviously incriminating, but the knowledge that he was *watching* her felt unnerving. She imagined him, scrolling through her carefully curated life, judging her selfies, her witty comments. A tremor ran through her arms.

“Hey, you okay?” her best friend, Chloe, asked, leaning over her shoulder. Maya jumped, nearly dropping her phone. "You look like you saw a ghost."

“Uh, yeah, fine," she mumbled, quickly closing the app. "Just… tired.”