Gemotions

He stared at the canvas, a vast expanse of white taunting him. Miles had been wrestling with this painting for weeks, his creative energy utterly depleted. He wanted to capture the essence of a forgotten city, to evoke a sense of its ghosts. But the city remained stubbornly absent.

Then, a text message. From a gallery owner. "Intrigued by your new work, Miles. But I've just seen something very similar by another artist…"

His hands felt clammy. He scrolled through the attached images. They were almost… too similar. The same color palette, the same architectural style, the same feeling of melancholy. A deep sigh escaped him. He felt as though the air had been squeezed out of his lungs.