Gemotions

The phone dropped from her numb fingers, clattering onto the hardwood floor. The echo of the doctor's words—"your records, they've been mixed up"—reverberated in the sudden silence. A wave of heat washed over her, followed by a bone-deep chill.

She sank to the floor, her back against the cool wall. The room spun. Her breath came in shallow, ragged gasps. The implications, the potential consequences, swirled around her like a dark cloud. She felt an overwhelming sense of isolation, of being utterly alone in a terrifying new landscape.

She pulled her knees to her chest, trying to physically shrink, to become invisible, to escape the encroaching dread. She wanted nothing more than to wake up and discover it was all just a bad dream.