Gemotions

The email sat in his inbox, a digital serpent coiled to strike. Accusation of plagiarism. He stared, the words blurring, the screen shimmering as if through heat. His grandfather had died a week ago. He’d barely slept, the image of the frail, smiling man etched onto the insides of his eyelids. Now this. He felt the familiar weight in his chest, a leaden cloak he couldn't shrug off. He wanted to scream, to lash out, but the words caught in his throat, a silent, suffocating sob. He closed the laptop, the click echoing in the sudden quiet of his dorm room.