Gemotions

The silence in her tiny apartment was deafening. The email, with its curt words of denial, glared at her from the laptop screen. She shut the computer with a snap, the sound echoing unnaturally loud in the small space.

Her hands trembled as she reached for a cigarette, even though she'd quit a month ago. She lit it, the familiar nicotine rush doing little to quell the turmoil within. The smoke filled the room, a hazy cloud mirroring her clouded thoughts.

She felt a hot flush crawl up her neck. Her landlord was already behind on the rent. She needed this scholarship. Her whole future depended on this. Now she had nothing.