Gemotions

The email sat in Amelia's inbox, radiating a cold dread. Her fingers hovered over the mouse, the cursor a tiny, quivering arrow. She should just delete it, pretend it hadn’t arrived. But the subject line, "Possible Family Connection," screamed its unwanted truth. A wave of nausea washed over her. She clicked.

Her breath hitched. A lawyer, a city, a name she vaguely recognized from her father's past. A half-sibling. A sister. Amelia ran a hand through her hair, tugging at the strands. Her stomach clenched so hard she thought she might be sick. She felt a profound and sudden need to be somewhere else, anywhere else.

The air in her small apartment suddenly felt thin and hard to breathe. Her vision swam. It was a cruel trick, a horrible joke. She imagined a child, a girl growing up with a part of the father that was hers. Her own father, in this new light, seemed foreign.