Gemotions

The silence in the cramped office was deafening. John could hear the frantic pounding of his own heart. He read the email again, but the words didn’t make sense. Dr. Evans: Resignation. Effective immediately. His mind reeled. His thesis was half-finished, a tangled mess of ideas and data.

He felt a searing heat spread across his face. He pushed away from his desk. The room seemed to spin. The familiar posters, the cluttered bookshelves, everything appeared to be moving, shifting. He stumbled to the window, needing air.

Outside, the campus, usually buzzing with life, now felt sinister, the sun's rays too bright. The sudden, uninvited emptiness within him was a vast, yawning chasm. What was he supposed to do?