Gemotions

The silence of the library pressed down on Sarah. She'd been caught sneaking out of the school grounds to go to a concert the week before. Now, her math teacher, Mr. Reynolds, was following her on Instagram. She felt sick with panic.

She pictured him scrolling through her photos, his eyes scrutinizing her, calculating the extent of her transgression. The hum of the fluorescent lights in the library became a mocking buzz in her ears.

She couldn’t focus on her homework. The pages of her textbook blurred into meaningless symbols. She wanted to disappear, to vanish. The feeling in her gut was heavy, oppressive.