Gemotions

“Another late night?” Brenda heard the question before she saw the speaker. It was Liam, her new, well-compensated, and annoyingly cheerful colleague. She could barely manage a response. The numbers on the company’s internal salary database were burned into her retinas. He was making significantly more.

The air in the office felt thick, heavy. She found herself staring at the clock, each second stretching into an eternity. Her desk seemed to close in around her, the files, the papers, the unread emails, all mocking her.

Brenda forced a smile, a shaky gesture. “Just wrapping things up.” She turned back to her computer, feeling a profound inability to focus.