Gemotions

Rain lashed against the windows, mirroring the tempest inside Amelia. She stared at the closed bedroom door, the muffled cadence of a man's voice still echoing in her ears. A voice she knew intimately, yet, somehow, had become a stranger's in the space of a few hushed calls over the past week. Her hands, balled into fists, trembled in her lap. She felt a profound sense of loss, like a precious, fragile vase shattered into a million pieces.

The silence that followed the final click of the phone seemed to stretch and suffocate. Amelia rose, her legs heavy, and moved towards the kitchen. She poured herself a glass of water, the icy liquid doing little to quell the heat rising in her chest. She needed to know. The need gnawed at her, a relentless internal pressure.

He came in, whistling a tuneless melody, his face bright. He looked at her and paused, his smile faltering a bit at the sight of her. He spoke without a greeting. "Everything alright?" he asked. She shook her head, unable to speak, the words caught in her throat like a physical obstruction.