Gemotions

The office was small, cluttered, and smelled of stale coffee and ambition. The framed photos of past championship teams stared down at Emily from the walls. Coach Riley sat behind his desk, his face etched with a look of profound seriousness. Emily felt a tremor run through her; it was the same tremor she always felt before a big game, only magnified tenfold. She could hear the frantic flutter of her own heartbeat in her ears.

The room seemed to shrink, the walls closing in on her. She focused on a small, worn basketball keychain on the coach’s desk, anything to avoid the inevitable. The words he was about to speak hung in the air, heavy and suffocating.