Gemotions

"So, you're telling me… there's someone else?" Clara's voice was barely a whisper. She stared at the woman across the kitchen table, her mother’s friend, her face a mask of polite sympathy. The woman had delivered the bombshell: a half-brother, living abroad.

Clara got up and began to pace, the small kitchen suddenly feeling too small. A strange thrumming filled her ears. She felt disconnected from her own body, as if she were observing herself from a distance. She ran her hands through her hair, a desperate, futile gesture.