Gemotions

The air in the office was thick with a strange sort of silence. It was the kind of hush that precedes a storm, a gathering of breath held tight. Emily felt it too. She hadn't said a word, and had not been asked. She merely read the email that had been sent around. The words swam before her eyes.

She looked at her hands, the familiar curve of the pen in her fingers. The reports she’d been working on suddenly felt like artifacts. She had thought she was building something, contributing to something meaningful. Now it all felt like dust.

She felt a strange disconnect. Her body sat there, but her mind seemed to be elsewhere. The hum of the computer, the whir of the printer, faded into a dull background noise. She had nothing to say. She had nothing to do. Her eyes drifted to the window, the world outside beckoning, but she didn’t move.