Gemotions

He slumped onto the park bench, the cold metal a shock against his clammy hands. The late afternoon sun cast long shadows, painting the familiar park in unfamiliar hues. He hadn't slept well since the email. The test results. An entire lineage, blooming beneath the surface of his life like a hidden root system. He felt as though the very ground beneath him had shifted.

He pulled at the collar of his shirt, finding it suddenly too tight. He thought of his parents, the ones who raised him. Were they in on it? The deception, the carefully constructed narrative of his existence. He wished he could simply erase the knowledge, go back to the uncomplicated life he had led before.