Gemotions

The phone buzzed, vibrating insistently on the countertop. It was a request from Peter, the boy who'd made her school days a torment. She instinctively recoiled, as if the phone itself had become contaminated. Her hand hovered over the notification.

She turned off the music, the sudden quiet amplifying the frantic thrumming in her chest. She found herself staring at the kettle, willing it to boil so she could make a cup of tea. She needed something to ground her. She needed the comfort of something familiar.