Gemotions

The email shimmered on the screen, the words a blurry, venomous serpent coiling in her stomach. “We regret to inform you…” It repeated in her head, a sickening mantra. She stared at the notification, her breath catching in ragged gasps. The walls of her small apartment seemed to tilt, the familiar posters of astrophysicists now mocking, their faces blurring. She slammed the laptop shut, the metallic clang echoing in the sudden, suffocating silence.

Her hands flew to her mouth, fingers pinching hard at her lips as if to contain a scream. A cold sweat slicked her palms. She sank to the floor, the rough carpet scratching against her skin. The future, once a bright constellation of possibilities, now felt like a vast, empty void.