Gemotions

"You were so brave!" Daniel's words bounced off the walls. Leo had been talking about the camping trip, recalling the laughter around the campfire, the silly songs they sang. He swallowed hard, the muscles in his throat constricting. He could barely breathe. The memory, for him, was a claustrophobic maze of shadows and anxieties. He was sure he’d huddled under a tree the entire time, paralyzed by a creeping dread. Now, listening to Daniel, it was like inhabiting a different reality. He felt a sudden, almost desperate need to check his phone, to distract himself.