Gemotions

The flickering departure board glared at Amelia. "DELAYED." The word pulsed, a malevolent heart in the sterile airport environment. Her palms were slick. She checked her watch for the tenth time in as many minutes. Her sister's wedding. She was supposed to be there by now, supposed to be standing beside the bride, not glued to a plastic chair, listening to the drone of announcements she’d already memorized.

A tremor started in her jaw, a subtle clenching she couldn’t control. She replayed the itinerary in her mind, the carefully packed dress, the speech she’d labored over. It all felt distant, unreal. The delay stretched on, an eternity measured in boarding passes and missed calls.

She picked at the corner of her boarding pass, shredding the flimsy paper into tiny pieces. The airport’s antiseptic scent felt thick, suffocating. The air conditioning hummed, a mechanical lullaby that did nothing to soothe the frantic hammering in her chest.