Gemotions

The cream-colored envelope felt heavy in her hand. Sarah stared at it, the embossed lettering blurring slightly as her vision wavered. It was the invitation. The high school reunion. Twenty years. Her stomach clenched. She hadn’t even realized it had been that long.

She crumpled the paper, then smoothed it out, a nervous habit that had plagued her since childhood. Her pulse quickened. The thought of seeing *them* again—the popular girls, the jocks, the teachers who'd deemed her "quiet"—made her want to disappear.

“Just open it,” she muttered to herself, her voice barely a whisper. She finally ripped the seal, the sound like a gunshot in the sudden silence of her apartment.