Gemotions

The crowded airport terminal amplified the low hum of anxiety coursing through Olivia. She clutched her boarding pass, her knuckles white. She kept checking the departure screens, certain her flight was about to be delayed. She couldn’t stay still, pacing, re-checking her luggage.

As she moved forward, she collided with a man who was also pacing. He steadied her with a hand on her arm. He then pulled up his shirt, revealing a small, crescent-shaped indentation on his abdomen.

Olivia, startled, instinctively lifted her own shirt. The same mark stared back at her. A sense of shared bewilderment momentarily stopped her rapid thoughts.