Gemotions

The email sat in Eleanor's inbox, bold and accusing. A friend had sent her a link to a website detailing the alleged plagiarism of her literary hero, Arthur Finch. Her breath hitched. The familiar tremor started in her chest, a frantic fluttering that made her want to run. She stared at the screen, the accusations blurring into a buzzing wall of text.

She reached for her phone, her fingers fumbling over the cold glass. She had to call someone, anyone, to make the feeling in her stomach subside. Her best friend, Sarah, answered after the second ring. “I…I don’t know what to do,” Eleanor stammered, her voice tight and high.

The accusations were almost identical to passages from her old college stories. How could Arthur Finch, the man whose words had comforted her through so many sleepless nights, steal from someone like her? She felt a crushing weight settle on her shoulders, the world suddenly too loud, too bright.