Gemotions

Rain lashed against the windows of the small, cluttered office, mirroring the tempest within Elias. He slammed the final binder onto his desk, the force of it making the already precarious stack of papers tremble. Months. Months he'd poured into this research, fueled by countless late nights and lukewarm coffee. Now, after finally submitting his proposal, the pit in his stomach had only grown.

He ran a hand through his already dishevelled hair. The email was terse, the subject line a cruel slap in the face: “Project Overlap.” He hadn’t even opened it yet, the digital notification mocking him from the corner of his monitor. Elias felt a pressure building behind his eyes, a familiar ache he usually suppressed with work.

"Just breathe," he muttered, the words barely audible above the drumming of the rain. He forced himself to click the mouse. The attached document. It detailed a project with the exact same parameters, the same objectives, even the same quirky methodology he'd painstakingly developed. A wave of nausea washed over him, and he instinctively gripped the edge of the desk, knuckles white.