Gemotions

Sarah watched the driver tighten the winch, his movements efficient and impersonal. Her beat-up Honda Civic, her lifeline to freedom, was being hauled away. A knot tightened in her stomach. She felt a familiar weight settle on her shoulders, the same feeling that had plagued her since… well, since everything.

She sank onto the porch steps, the cold seeped into her jeans. The air felt thin, hard to breathe. The world tilted slightly, the familiar landscape of her life suddenly warped. She thought about the dusty atlas in her glove compartment, the one she’d been using to plot her escape route.

The leaves on the maple tree in her front yard rustled restlessly in the breeze. She closed her eyes, trying to picture the drive she had planned. The freedom. The open road. Now, all she saw was the blank space where her car used to be. A void.