Gemotions

The biting wind outside the professor's office mirrored the icy dread that had enveloped Emily. The landscape outside, normally so bright, seemed to fade, becoming gray and lifeless. She felt a pressure building behind her eyes.

She watched the professor’s lips move, but the words seemed distant and distorted. The accusation, “copied,” “plagiarized,” repeated like a broken record in her head. Her hands felt clammy.

"No… that can't be true," she finally managed, the words hardly more than a breath. She struggled to gather her thoughts, to make sense of the unfolding disaster.