Gemotions

The meeting room felt stuffy. David, his co-worker, continued to talk about his prestigious job at a well-known tech company, going into exhaustive detail about a recent project. Sarah felt a peculiar heaviness in her eyelids, a yearning for the comforting darkness of unconsciousness. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair, the hard plastic digging into her thighs. The air felt thick, difficult to breathe.

She found herself struggling to keep her eyes open, the words merging into a meaningless drone. She tried to focus, forcing herself to nod and smile, but her head felt like it was filled with cotton. Her mouth tasted like cardboard.

David’s smile turned slightly strained. "Sarah, are you listening?"

She mumbled an apology, blaming a late night. But she didn't feel rested. She began to wonder if David was telling the truth. After the meeting, she did some digging. He wasn’t.