Gemotions

The news ripped through her like a storm. The DNA test, a frivolous experiment, had turned her world upside down. The carefully constructed narrative of her childhood, the one she’d always believed, was now a flimsy façade. A tight, cold knot formed in her chest.

She went to the local charity shop, a place her adoptive father was particularly fond of, and donated his favorite old armchair. She didn't tell him, of course. She waited for him to notice its absence, anticipating his baffled reaction with a grim sort of anticipation.

Later, she “accidentally” deleted all the photos of their family from the shared cloud drive, leaving only her. She felt a strange sort of lightness as she watched the data disappear.