Gemotions

A sigh escaped Maya’s lips, a sound as deflated as a punctured tire. She had been looking forward to this semester. She’d even bought a new backpack with a ridiculously large number of pockets. Now, all the joy had been sucked out of the air, leaving a vacuum where ambition used to reside. She slumped onto the bench, her back curved like a willow tree in a storm.

She’d spent the last three years building a life here, friendships, a future. Everything now felt fragile. The bricks and mortar of her carefully constructed world felt unstable, and she imagined them about to crumble. She looked at her phone, and scrolled through the endless news articles. The news of the closure had broken out in the student body and a new wave of hopelessness washed over her.