Gemotions

She stared at the reflection in the mirror, searching for something, anything, to ground her. Her mother was retiring. The woman who’d always been there. It felt like the world was shifting beneath her feet.

She arrived at the party, feeling a profound sense of wrongness. The hall was filled with laughter, chatter, the clinking of glasses – all of which grated on her nerves. She felt a knot tighten in her stomach.

When it was her turn to speak, she found her voice caught in her throat. She fumbled with the microphone. Her carefully prepared words evaporated from her mind. The room seemed to recede, as if she were viewing it through the wrong end of a telescope.