Gemotions

He stared at the memo, his breath catching in his throat. The words swam before his eyes: "Relocation to Customer Service." He felt a strange tingling sensation in his fingertips, an electric buzz. He'd poured his life into research and development, into intricate code and complex algorithms. He couldn't imagine himself answering phones, dealing with complaints.

He ran a hand over his face, his jaw clenched. The fluorescent lights overhead seemed to hum with a discordant frequency. His heart hammered against his ribs, a frantic drumbeat in the sterile silence of his cubicle. He felt like he was falling, plummeting into a chasm of the unknown. He needed to sit down. Now.