Gemotions

The world felt strange to Clara. The sun seemed too bright, the air too heavy. She’d found the card after a long day at work. It was in a thick, expensive envelope, the kind she usually avoided. It felt out of place among the junk mail.

She held the card up to the light, turning it over and over. The paper felt slick and cold beneath her fingertips. No signature, only a generic birthday greeting and a picture of a kitten in a party hat. She sank onto the couch, suddenly exhausted, her limbs heavy.

Her stomach churned. Was it someone she knew? Someone she didn't? The possibilities spun in her head, each more unsettling than the last. She tried to dismiss it, to tell herself it was nothing, but the image of the card, the unsigned words, kept flashing before her eyes.