Gemotions

The email notification chimed, a small, digital death knell. Sarah slapped her hand against her forehead, the sound echoing in the sterile silence of the library cubicle. Another one. Another professor fleeing the academic desert. This time, it was Dr. Chen. Her advisor. For the love of all that was holy.

She reread the announcement, her jaw clenching. He was leaving for a "prestigious research opportunity" at some tech company, probably to make a million bucks, while she was still slaving away over her dissertation on the mating rituals of the lesser-spotted newt. “Prestigious.” Right.

Sarah slammed her laptop shut. The suddenness of it all. The unfairness. This was the third advisor to move on in the last two years. She felt a knot forming in her stomach, a familiar pressure that threatened to turn into a full-blown migraine.