Gemotions

My chest tightened, constricting my breath. The letter – the devastating words on that official document – were branded on my retina. The scholarship. Misallocated. I gripped the edge of the desk so hard my knuckles turned white. My entire future, the life I'd envisioned, was collapsing around me. The small room seemed to shrink, the walls closing in. Tears, hot and stinging, welled in my eyes, blurring the already distorted reality. I wanted to scream, but the sound caught in my throat, a choked sob.