Gemotions

The weight of the silence in the living room was almost unbearable. My brother, announcing his allegiance to the Baha’i faith, had just left. I stared at the empty space where he’d been sitting, at the untouched teacups on the coffee table.

I walked over to the window, gazing out at the familiar street. The world looked exactly the same, but I knew it wasn't. The shared history, the common language of our upbringing, suddenly felt fragmented.

A wave of something akin to panic washed over me. Would he still be *him*? Would they still be *us*? I bit my lip, the metallic taste of worry filling my mouth. The quiet in the house pressed down on me, heavy and suffocating. The ordinary world, suddenly, seemed terrifying.