Gemotions

“This is so nice,” the woman chirped, looking around the art gallery. “He really knows how to pick them, doesn’t he?”

Liam, standing beside her, just grunted. He felt like his limbs were made of lead, dragging him down. The vibrant colors of the paintings seemed to mock his gray, internal landscape. He wished he could just vanish.

The woman pointed at a sculpture, her voice filled with admiration. “He said he always takes the person he really cares about here.” The sculpture was by a favored artist of Liam’s, one he had pointed out to his own date.

Liam felt a coldness spread through him. He mumbled something about needing air and excused himself, pushing past the other woman and fleeing out of the gallery and into the bustling street. He wanted to run, to keep running until the suffocating feeling in his chest finally lifted.