Gemotions

Eliza’s shoulders sagged as she watched the final boarding call of her flight being cancelled. Tears pricked at her eyes, but she blinked them away. Her mother's funeral. She was supposed to be there. The delay was devastating.

She stood and began to pace. Every movement felt mechanical, each step a futile attempt to make something happen. The faces around her, their mundane worries, grated on her frayed nerves. It felt like they were all in on a horrible secret.

She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to find some semblance of comfort. She whispered a silent plea for time to reverse, for the impossible to become possible. But the gate agents’ repeated assurances of "further updates" felt like yet another knife twist.