Gemotions

The coffee tasted like ash in her mouth. Amelia stared at the laptop, the screen displaying the hidden profile. The carefully curated posts, the flirty comments—it was like looking at a stranger's life. Her daughter, Chloe, had always been so open, so chatty. This…this felt like a betrayal.

She pushed her chair back, the scrape of the legs echoing in the otherwise silent room. She felt a knot tighten in her stomach, a physical manifestation of her unease. Should she confront Chloe? What if she overreacted? What if it was nothing? But the feeling, that insidious whisper of doubt, wouldn't go away.

She closed the laptop, the sudden darkness a physical relief. She needed to breathe, to calm herself. She walked over to the window and watched the birds flitting about in the yard. The mundane details of life seemed to mock her current turmoil. It was this constant worry that she’d spent so long trying to keep at bay.