Gemotions

The new employee’s cheerful demeanor grated on her nerves. Susan, sitting across the desk, found herself avoiding eye contact, fixing her gaze on her own desk. It was spotless. She’d cleaned it for hours the night before, a futile attempt to regain some semblance of control.

"Okay, so about the reports…" she began, her voice barely a whisper. She found herself stumbling over her words, her brain felt foggy. The training manual lay open on the desk, but she struggled to follow the bullet points.

The room around her felt as though it was closing in, the walls getting smaller with each passing minute. The silence from the new employee was piercing.