Gemotions

The crowded train platform felt like a pressure cooker. Maria gripped her worn handbag, her knuckles white. She had located Alex, the boy who used to share her secrets, through a social media site. Meeting him here, in the bustling train station, was a coincidence. She had called his name, her heart leaping with anticipation. He turned, and his face lit up with a vague flicker of recognition, quickly fading. “I am so sorry, but I really do not know you,” he said.

The noise of the platform intensified, becoming an unbearable assault on her senses. The faces of the commuters swam before her eyes. The train whistle blasted, a jarring sound that echoed in her skull. Maria felt a sense of defeat that was crushing. She wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep.

She stepped back from the crowd.