Gemotions

The news felt like a physical assault. The scholarship, the one that promised a life beyond her current circumstances, wasn’t hers. A mix-up. A simple error. But the ramifications were anything but simple. Her carefully constructed life, built on hope and sacrifice, threatened to collapse.

A bitter laugh escaped her lips, a sound filled with disbelief. She kicked the wastebasket across the room, watching it skitter across the floor. The air in her apartment felt thick, heavy. She felt an overwhelming impulse to break something, to shatter the illusion of control she’d painstakingly cultivated.