Gemotions

"Is that…?" Maya muttered under her breath, staring at the television. She’d been enjoying a rare night in, a glass of wine and a rerun of some garbage reality show. Then, the music. She recognized the piano intro instantly. “Sunlight and Shadows.” Her song. She’d written that when she was a teen.

The young woman on screen, a pop starlet with a perfect smile, was singing it, butchering it with forced emotion and auto-tune. Maya crossed her arms, a frown etching lines around her mouth. She could feel the heat prickling at the back of her neck.

She hated the arrangement, the cheesy string section, the way the singer was belting out the lyrics with zero understanding of their meaning. She wanted to throw the remote at the screen. She didn't. She poured herself another glass of wine and turned up the volume, just to hear how awful it was.