Gemotions

The air in the gallery was thick with a celebratory atmosphere, but for Ava, it felt stagnant and heavy. She felt an unrelenting pressure behind her eyes, the kind that made her head ache. She was furious.

The gallery had taken her most recent work without asking. She’d been working on a new collection of paintings when she got an email from a friend. They had a feeling that something was wrong.

She wanted to flee, to disappear. She imagined smashing the painting, just to feel something other than this overwhelming sense of being violated. She pressed her lips together, her jaw tight. She had to make them pay.