Gemotions

The flickering fluorescent lights of the office seemed to mock Amelia. Each buzz, each hum, grated on her nerves. She stared at the notification on her phone, a friend request from Mark Jenkins. His face, older but still recognizable, stared back. A wave of nausea churned in her stomach.

She almost deleted it immediately. He’d made her life a misery in grade school. The remembered sting of his taunts, the isolation he’d engineered, made her fingers tremble.

Her fingers hovered over the “accept” button. What if he was just being friendly? Or, a sudden thought struck her, trying to sell her something?