Gemotions

Rain lashed against the overflowing gutters, mirroring the tremor in Maya’s hands as she crouched, picking up the glistening, leather wallet from the slushy sidewalk. Her lower lip trembled, the cold seeping through her jeans. It had been a rotten week, each minor inconvenience building into a suffocating pressure in her chest.

She flipped it open, the snap yielding with a soft click. Stacks of crisp bills stared back at her. A gasp escaped her lips, quickly stifled. Her throat tightened, a familiar ache.

The identification card bore the name “Ethan Blackwood.” The picture showed a smiling, youthful face. A surge of empathy, unwelcome and immediate, flooded her. She pictured Ethan’s reaction, the panic she knew so well.