Gemotions

The email sat in the inbox, a digital dagger. Sarah reread the subject line: “Scholarship Application: Decision.” Her knuckles were white against the mouse as she clicked to open it. Rejection. Again. She slammed the laptop shut, the metallic clang echoing in the otherwise silent apartment. This was ridiculous. She’d poured her heart and soul into that application. Hours spent crafting the perfect essay, collecting letters of recommendation, jumping through every hoop.

She paced, her bare feet slapping against the hardwood floor. The air in the apartment felt thick, suffocating. She grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and chugged half of it without pausing. That scholarship was supposed to be her ticket. Now what? Back to that dead-end job, working until her bones ached? The thought made her chest tighten.

She kicked a stray textbook across the room. “Unbelievable,” she muttered under her breath, her voice tight with suppressed fury. She was better than this. She deserved better. The injustice of it all churned in her stomach.