Gemotions

The email sat in Maya's inbox, a digital serpent about to strike. She reread the subject line: “Scholarship Clarification.” Her hands trembled, making the phone screen blur. They… they hadn't meant to give it to her? The blood pounded in her ears, a furious drumbeat. She slammed the phone onto her desk, the cheap plastic cracking under the force. Now, all that hard work, every late night at the library, the sacrifices… for what? A cruel joke.

She paced her cramped dorm room, the worn rug doing little to soften her furious steps. A chipped mug on the desk trembled with each stride. She grabbed her favorite sweater, the one she'd bought specifically to celebrate landing this very scholarship, and ripped it off. Disgusted. Tossed it across the room. She would march straight to the financial aid office. Now.