Gemotions

It was the silence that was getting to Leo. The crushing quiet of his dorm room, now that his roommate had moved out, was a constant reminder of the emptiness that had consumed his ambition. The letter, revealing the scholarship error, had deflated him. Each day he sat at his computer, unable to even open his email to see if there were any updates. He was too wounded to follow up with the school.

He stared at the blank screen, the cursor blinking like a mocking eye. The textbook, usually a source of fascination, was now a source of agony. It was the other student, the one with the correct name, who was going to experience all of it. He felt the sting of abandonment and the burning of his own inadequacy. He wanted to scream.