Gemotions

"I need to leave," he mumbled, the words catching in his throat. His wife looked at him, confused. She didn't understand. How could she? He’d been holding onto this secret for so long, and it all exploded when the results from the ancestry test arrived. He felt like his heart was trying to claw its way out of his chest.

He threw on a coat and stumbled out the front door, the air filling his lungs. He walked down the street, feeling the pavement beneath his feet. The familiar houses of his friends and neighbors, their welcoming porches and manicured lawns, seemed to mock him. He felt the need to keep moving, to disappear, to find some place where he wouldn't feel the crushing weight on his soul.