Michelle

She sits and listens. She does not speak. Her breathing increases, as does her heart rate. The fire starts somewhere in her chest. She can feel it rising higher and higher. Her throat tightens and she cannot swallow. The heat has reached her face now, moving slowly from her chin to her forehead. Her clenched jaw, her flaring nostrils, the spreading redness, all betray, her she thinks. No one seems to notice.