Gemotions

The message was simple, yet it seemed to scream: “Hi, it’s Ben.” The name felt like a weight on her chest. Ben Carter. She had thought about him less and less over the years, until he’d become a distant and faded memory. She felt the sudden urge to look at old yearbooks, but resisted the impulse.

She started seeing him everywhere. Or she thought she saw him. The man with the familiar build near the grocery store; the shadowed figure across the street. She caught herself starting at the dark shapes in the park.

Her pulse quickened with every passing second. Her appetite vanished. She picked at her food, a feeling of nausea welling up.