Gemotions

The hospital's sterile scent, a blend of disinfectant and stale air, clung to Leo's clothes. The news, delivered with polite regret, was a blow that, in its way, he already knew. The scans and the tests had been for someone else; his own health was a mystery, a void. His shoulders slumped.

He heard the doctor’s apologies, the promises of new appointments, but the words barely registered. He rubbed a hand over his face. The building around him seemed to tilt. He knew, with a certainty that settled deep in his bones, that this was just another turn in the inevitable. He’d take the next step, do what he was asked. He walked towards the exit, his pace slow, his mind already elsewhere.