Gemotions

“Did you hear?” whispered Liam, his voice a low monotone. His eyes were red-rimmed. "They're shutting down." The university president's address, broadcast through the campus speaker system, had just ended.

I just stared at him. I couldn't process it. My whole life was here. The library, the classes, the friends I'd made, all of it. A suffocating pressure built in my chest. I felt like I was drowning, unable to breathe.

My carefully built routines, the comfort of knowing what was next, vanished. The future stretched out before me, an empty landscape. The familiar campus, usually vibrant and alive, seemed suddenly desolate and uncaring. I felt nothing, just an overwhelming sense of emptiness.