Gemotions

The café buzzed around her, but Clara felt isolated, adrift. The confirmation email, the subject line screaming “Patent Denied,” lay crumpled on the table. Her invention: a device that could reverse climate change. She’d dedicated her life to it. Now, the world around her seemed to tilt, the conversations of others fading into a meaningless murmur. She felt a strange buzzing in her ears, a premonition of some unspoken, unavoidable calamity. She wanted to scream, to lash out, but all that came out was a shaky breath.