Gemotions

"Just let me know if you need anything, sweetheart," her father said, his voice unusually gentle. Liam wanted to shout, "Yes! I need everything!" But the words wouldn't come. He just gave a curt nod, his jaw clenched.

He sat at the kitchen table, staring at the perfectly placed fruit bowl his mother always put out. The vibrant colors mocked him. He felt pinned down, examined. The silence was deafening, broken only by the hum of the refrigerator.

He picked at the skin around his thumbnails, a habit he'd thought he'd broken years ago. He felt like a child again, vulnerable and small. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was under surveillance.