Gemotions

The room seemed to shrink, the walls closing in on Jessica. She felt a sharp, stabbing pain in her side. The photos depicted her great-grandmother, a woman presented as a saint, laughing and dancing with a man who was not her husband. A terrible pressure mounted inside her, making her heart pound and her head throb.

She scrambled to her feet, knocking over the chair. She darted to the window, throwing it open, gulping the cold air. The world outside, the familiar landscape, seemed distant and unreal. The truth was a monster she could not outrun.