Gemotions

Mark watched his daughter, Chloe, skip into the classroom, oblivious to the man standing by the door. His old teacher. Mr. Abernathy. The feeling was instant. It was a suffocating pressure in his chest. A suffocating feeling of being trapped.

He had to get out of there. He needed air. He mumbled an excuse to Chloe and turned away, his heart hammering against his ribs. He felt a sudden, inexplicable urge to run, to escape the suffocating presence of this man, this symbol of his past failures.

The image of that classroom, of sitting in the corner with his head down, filled his mind. It was a heavy weight, pressing down on him.