Gemotions

The walk to class, usually bustling with hurried steps and excited chatter, was now a silent trek. Maria kept her head down, avoiding eye contact. The announcement, still echoing in her mind, had drained her of any desire to interact. She found it difficult to engage her mind at all.

Her backpack felt heavy on her shoulders. Her usual zest for learning, the excitement of new ideas, had vanished. The classrooms now seemed like empty stages. She sat through her lecture, listening to the professor's increasingly erratic voice, each word filtered through a haze.

She felt a strange sense of resignation, a quiet acceptance of the inevitable. She wasn’t looking forward to the future. She felt an absence of anticipation. She watched the day fade, and went to bed.