Gemotions

The email sat in her inbox, a cold, stark rectangle against the brightly colored subject lines. She clicked on it, the cursor hovering over the open button for an eternity. Her breath hitched. Her palms felt slick, and she rubbed them against the rough fabric of her jeans. Finally, she took the plunge.

Her eyes scanned the dense text, each word a tiny hammer blow against her chest. Rejection. The word blazed at her. She reread the paragraph three times, trying to find some hidden loophole, some glimmer of hope she'd missed the first time. Nothing.

She closed the laptop with a snap, the sound echoing in the silent room. Her stomach churned. The application had been perfect, she'd thought. The essay, the recommendations, everything. Now, all that effort seemed to have amounted to nothing. She felt a pressing need to pace, to do something, anything to dissipate the coiled tension that was building inside.