Gemotions

The email landed with a thud in her inbox, just as she was reaching for her morning coffee. Closing. The word swam before her eyes, blurring the crisp lines of the university’s official letterhead. She slammed the laptop shut, the metallic clang echoing in the otherwise silent apartment. Her knuckles were white against the cold, smooth surface. She considered throwing it across the room. Instead, she rose, paced the length of her tiny kitchen, and then wrenched open the refrigerator door, searching for something, anything, to quell the sudden, scorching heat blooming in her chest.