Gemotions

The lukewarm tea sat untouched on the bedside table. Liam hadn't bothered to get out of bed, the curtains drawn, the room plunged in a perpetual twilight. He scrolled through his phone, a dull ache throbbing behind his eyes. A friend request popped up. From Jessica. He remembered the taunts, the stolen lunch money, the playground games that always ended with him on the losing side.

His fingers hovered over the “accept” button. A bitter taste coated his mouth. He thought about the years he spent striving to forget, to move on. Each achievement, each success, had been a small victory against the ghost of his past. The request felt like a betrayal of all that work, a sudden wound reopening.