The email sat in Maya's inbox, a stark white rectangle against the celebratory chaos of acceptance letters she'd been expecting. This one wasn't a congratulations. It was a retraction. Her scholarship, the one that had allowed her to even *dream* of leaving her small town, was being revoked. Her breath hitched, a small, involuntary gasp. The coffee cup she held trembled, a few drops spilling onto the table. Disbelief warred with a sudden, sinking feeling in her stomach. She reread the message, each word a cold, hard stone.
She slammed her laptop shut. The sound echoed unnaturally loud in the otherwise quiet library. Her shoulders hunched, and she abruptly pushed back from the table, gathering her things with jerky, uncoordinated movements. Leaving the books and her half-finished essay, she practically ran out of the building, the crisp autumn air doing nothing to clear the sudden fog in her brain.
The walk back to her dorm felt impossibly long, the vibrant colors of the fall leaves mocking the bleakness that had settled over her. When she finally reached her room, she locked the door, and sank onto the bed, the mattress offering no comfort.