Gemotions

The fluorescent lights of the office hummed, a relentless drone that mirrored the thrumming in Elias’s temples. He stared at his monitor, the spreadsheet a meaningless jumble of numbers and percentages. The email sat in his inbox, unread, the subject line a brutal stab: “Promotion Announcement.” He’d known this was coming, of course, but the knowledge hadn’t softened the blow.

He pushed his chair back, the plastic scraping against the worn carpet. A wave of heat washed over him, a physical manifestation of the hollowness inside. He felt the sudden urge to just leave, to vanish. To walk out into the sterile sunshine and not look back.

He’d put in the hours, the extra effort, the weekend work. He’d believed, genuinely believed, he was the one. Now, the weight of that belief felt like a lead cloak. He looked at his hands, finding the slight tremor almost amusing. They were steady enough for data entry, just not for holding the career he thought he had.