Gemotions

The ramen tasted like cardboard, as usual. Sarah pushed the bowl away, the steam doing little to warm her chilled hands. Classes were a blur, a monotonous cycle of lectures and readings that seemed to bleed together. Lately, she found herself staring out the window during seminars, watching the leaves fall without any particular interest.

A creak from the hallway startled her. It was Mark, her roommate. He shuffled in, avoiding eye contact. He always did that now, since the… incident. She knew he knew. The ink on her journal, carelessly left on the desk, had clearly been smudged.

"Hey," he mumbled, his voice tight.

"Hey," she replied, her throat dry. The silence that followed was thick with unspoken accusations and a shared sense of awkwardness. She just wanted the day to end.