Gemotions

The weight of the duvet pressed down on Chloe, heavy and suffocating. The darkness was the only place she felt any peace. The world outside, the bright, airy kitchen where her mother happily puttered, the world was too much.

The smell of pancakes, her favorite, drifted up from downstairs. A fresh plate was left outside her door, her mother's soft touch. She felt the tears in her eyes. The sound of her father's voice rose with the smell of the pancakes.

She felt the dread build in her chest. She wanted to scream, to run, to disappear. But all she could do was lie in bed, paralyzed, and unable to face another day. The sunlight was a horror, and the future was a weight she could not bear.