Gemotions

A chill snaked its way up Maya's arms as she stared at the printout. Her heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic bird trapped in a cage. The document detailed a condition she’d never known she possessed, a diagnosis so foreign it felt like a bad dream. She clenched her jaw, her knuckles white against the paper.

"This can't be right," she muttered, the words barely audible. The air in the coffee shop suddenly felt thin, hard to breathe. She picked at the foam on her latte, the sugary taste doing nothing to soothe the growing tension in her gut. She needed to speak to someone, to verify, to understand.