Gemotions

The news arrived via a phone call from his sister. The biography was out. A strange, suffocating sensation constricted Arthur’s chest. He felt like he'd been punched.

He sat on his sofa, numb. The book. It was out there, for anyone to read. The life he had curated, guarded, was now public knowledge. He could barely bring himself to eat.

He looked around his apartment, at the objects that once brought him joy, and felt nothing. He felt an overwhelming sense of loss, a deep regret for the privacy he'd lost. He felt utterly and completely exposed, a specimen under a microscope.