Gemotions

"Damn it," Mark spat, kicking a stray pebble across the workshop floor. His brow was furrowed, a permanent crease etched from worry. His revolutionary solar panel, designed to be affordable and efficient, was a bust. Someone else had already patented a remarkably similar design. He'd poured his savings, his passion, everything into this project. He felt a hollowness, an echoing void where ambition once burned brightly. He was supposed to prove himself, to break free from his family's expectations. But now, it was like a rope had been tied to his waist, pulling him relentlessly back into the orbit of his older brother, who already had it all.