Gemotions

The doctor's office smelled of antiseptic and stale coffee. Emily sat stiffly on the examination table, her hands clenched in her lap. The doctor's words—"your biological family"—were like a foreign language. It was all a lot to take in at once.

The silence in the room stretched, punctuated only by the hum of the fluorescent lights. She felt a sense of disorientation, as if she had been spun around in a circle for too long. She wanted the doctor to leave, just to be left alone with this new, unsettling reality.