Gemotions

The email blinked in Amelia’s inbox, the subject line a cheerful, almost mocking, “Congratulations! Your Essay’s a Winner!” She scrolled down, her fingers trembling slightly, and saw it: her college application essay, the one she’d poured her heart into years ago, now plastered across the university’s website. An example. A shining beacon. Her stomach lurched.

She slammed her laptop shut, the metallic click echoing in the sudden quiet of her apartment. The air felt thick, heavy, pressing down on her chest. Grabbing her keys, she fled, needing to be anywhere but there, anywhere but within the suffocating proximity of her own past.

The biting autumn wind whipped at her face as she walked aimlessly, the rustling leaves mimicking the frantic beat of her heart. She kept seeing the words, the careful phrasing she'd used, now stripped bare for public consumption. A cold sweat prickled her skin.