Gemotions

The restaurant buzzed around Leo, but he was oblivious to the noise. He stared at the article on his phone, the headline screaming about the plagiarism allegations against celebrated author Charles Sterling. He took a sip of water, the cold liquid doing little to soothe the knot twisting in his stomach.

He'd waited in line for hours to meet Sterling at a book signing, had the man sign his favorite novel. Now he felt as though the ink of the autograph had become something poisonous. He reread the comparisons, highlighting the passages that mirrored his own unpublished work. He felt a strange detachment, as if watching a movie about someone else.

He tried to reason, to find a plausible explanation. But the weight of the evidence pressed down on him, a crushing certainty he couldn’t dispel.