Gemotions

The world narrowed to the confines of her cluttered bedroom. A damp heat enveloped her, as if the air itself was holding its breath. The rejection notice was a jagged paper cut on the calm of her day. It was still on the table. She hadn’t even gotten up to throw it away.

She kicked the leg of her desk, not hard, but enough to feel a sharp pang of pain. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, blurring the already dim light filtering through the blinds. How was she going to tell her grandparents? She could already hear the disappointment in their voices, the unspoken weight of their expectations.

She crossed the room and just fell onto her bed, burying her face in the pillow. The scent of lavender, usually so soothing, now only amplified the hollowness within.