Gemotions

The air conditioning in the administrative building was blasting, but Amelia still felt a chill. The secretary, a woman with perfectly coiffed hair and a practiced smile, had just delivered the news. A mistake. An error. Someone else's name, someone else's future, had been mistakenly placed on her scholarship.

She walked outside, the sun blinding, the sounds of the city distant and muffled. She felt like a puppet whose strings had been cut, all her plans and aspirations suddenly pointless. The vibrant colors of the campus, the laughter of other students, it all felt somehow false, like a movie set.

She needed to get away, she just didn't have the strength to know where to start.