Gemotions

The invitation sat on Amelia's kitchen counter, a pristine white rectangle taunting her. “Family Reunion,” it declared, and under that, a name she’d never heard: Ethan. Her stomach churned, a cold knot forming in her gut. She flicked it off the counter with a careless swipe of her hand.

Later that evening, while chopping vegetables for dinner, her hand kept slipping, the knife nearly grazing her fingers. The image of the smiling faces in the brochure for the family reunion, all supposedly connected to *her* family, flashed in her mind. Did they even know she existed? Or was she, as always, an afterthought?

She threw the carrot pieces into the pan with unnecessary force, the sound echoing in the otherwise quiet kitchen. “Just another thing to deal with,” she muttered, her voice tight. The steam from the vegetables seemed to cling to her face, a damp, unwelcome presence.