Gemotions

Maya wandered through the campus library, the fluorescent lights humming overhead. The quiet usually calmed her, but today, it amplified the buzzing in her ears. Her application essay, a story about her grandfather, was now a case study for future applicants. She felt exposed, stripped bare.

She pulled a book from the shelf, but the words blurred before her eyes. The ache in her chest grew with each passing minute. The story she thought so deeply personal had become public property.

She felt like a fraud, a caricature of herself.

She closed the book and replaced it on the shelf, feeling as though she was being swallowed whole.