Gemotions

Her hands trembled as she clutched the steaming mug, the warmth offering little comfort. The elm, a sentinel for decades, was now a pile of broken limbs. This whole thing felt so…wrong. She took a deep breath. She didn't want to think about the mess, the clean-up, the insurance.

She kept replaying the loud noise in her head. She had to focus on something else. She began cleaning the already spotless counter. Scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing.

She just wanted to disappear, to be swallowed up by the silence. Every little sound felt amplified, grating.