Gemotions

The email notification on her phone made Clara’s already shallow breathing become even more rapid. It was a message from her agent, a link to an online auction. Clicking the link, she saw it: her intricate collage, being sold for a price that made her head spin.

She squeezed her eyes shut, a sharp pain lancing behind them. The silence of her apartment felt oppressive, amplifying the frantic rhythm of her heart. She couldn't understand how her private work, created in the sanctity of her studio, ended up there.

Her hands shook as she attempted to reply to the email. The words swam before her eyes. Every pixel of the website seemed to mock her. The image on the screen, her painstaking creation, felt like a gaping wound.