Gemotions

“No, no, no,” he muttered, the words barely audible. The truck, his livelihood, gone. He felt a sudden, inexplicable urge to run, to escape this scene of surreal absurdity. The world seemed to have gone out of focus, as if viewed through a distorted lens. He felt a rising heat in his chest.

The ticket was an alien object; a piece of paper representing an unmanageable truth. He stared at it as if it were a venomous snake. His teeth ground together. He looked down at the empty space, his jaw clenching. He took a single step backwards, then another.