Gemotions

The request had arrived like a physical blow. Sarah stood frozen, hand still on the doorknob, the cheerful words of her neighbor washing over her. The proposal of sharing the back forty felt like a personal attack. The carefully chosen flowers, the neatly trimmed hedges—all of it was a barrier against the world. Now, this intrusion.

She closed the door with a trembling hand, the sound echoing in the silent house. A wave of nausea rolled over her. She gripped the cold porcelain of the sink, her reflection staring back, a pale and stricken stranger. The thought of the garden, once a source of calm, now a battlefield, sent a cold shiver down her spine. The world was closing in.