Gemotions

The dorm room felt thick, stale. Sarah’s backpack lay discarded on the floor, its contents spilling out in a chaotic display of pens, notebooks, and half-eaten granola bars. She had promised herself she would clean it up after her morning coffee, but the allure of the beanbag chair was just too strong. She hadn’t even made it to the coffee.

A small, leather-bound book sat on her desk, the cover slightly ajar. It was her journal, the one she meticulously locked away. She knew she had placed it closed, and now the pages fanned out from the center. Her roommate, Chloe, was always so relentlessly productive. Always studying, always organized.

The idea of confronting Chloe, of initiating a conversation, was utterly exhausting. Sarah closed her eyes and let her head fall back against the comfortable cushions of the bean bag, the thought of speaking to anyone exhausting.