Gemotions

The announcement echoed through the auditorium. For Emily, the air became thick, hard to breathe. Her hands clenched in her lap. The scholarship, the culmination of years of hard work, was being given to… someone else. A strange tremor shook her.

She found herself analyzing the recipient, scrutinizing their every move, searching for something, anything, to explain the unfairness. She compared herself, her accomplishments, her struggles. The comparison was an excruciating exercise.

She began to resent the ease with which the recipient seemed to navigate the campus. Their laughter, their effortless interactions, grated on her nerves. Her own smiles felt forced, the joy leached out of everything.