Gemotions

The email arrived like a slap across the face. Sarah stared at the screen, the words blurring. Her scholarship, the one she’d bled for, was a mistake. They’d given it to her by accident. The knot in her stomach tightened, making it hard to breathe.

She reread the message, the polite, apologetic language grating against her. "We regret any inconvenience..." *Inconvenience?* She slammed the laptop shut, the click echoing in the suddenly silent room. She felt a burning sensation in her cheeks and a tremor run through her hands.

Later, she found herself shredding old notes, even the ones with the A+ marks, tearing them into tiny, useless fragments.