Gemotions

The sound of rustling newspaper filled the otherwise silent apartment. Ava sat on the couch, watching her roommate, Emily, meticulously fold and refold an adoption pamphlet for a shelter dog. Ava felt a dull ache in her temples.

She imagined the early morning walks, the constant barking, the responsibility of another dependent. A wave of nausea rolled through her. She already felt stretched thin, pulled in a million different directions.

She wanted to scream, to run, to escape the suffocating feeling that was rising within her. Instead, she took a shaky breath and pretended to be absorbed in the pages of her own book, a futile attempt at creating distance.