Gemotions

"Well, this is just great," Claire muttered to herself, staring at the screen. It was Gary, the boy who’d spread rumors about her in middle school. The blood drained from her face. She felt a sudden, heavy pressure in her chest.

She stood up abruptly, knocking over her coffee cup. The brown liquid spread across the desk, a silent, messy consequence of the intrusion. She paid no mind to the spill. She felt a powerful impulse to flee, to disappear.

She wanted to scream. Instead, she took a shaky breath, trying to regain some semblance of control. She grabbed a towel and began to furiously wipe up the mess. The action was more a distraction than a solution, an attempt to anchor herself to the present.