Gemotions

The city lights blurred through the taxi window as Daniel slumped back in his seat. The late hour and the exhaustion did not help him shake this feeling. The presentation he had given earlier in the day had felt like a performance on a stage, a show with a preordained end. Now, the aftermath of that performance had him feeling brittle.

He picked up his phone. It buzzed with a message from his mentor. He opened it, his heart sinking, and the words on the screen seemed to mock him. A new project, a collaboration. "It's all so tiresome," he muttered to himself.

The taxi pulled up in front of his apartment building. He paid the driver and walked inside, his steps dragging as the elevator ascended.