Gemotions

"I… I don't understand," Emily said, her voice barely audible. The patent examiner, a stern woman with steel-grey hair, simply pointed to a diagram on the screen. The machine, her invention, a system for automated pet-grooming, was strikingly similar to one already patented.

A wave of nausea washed over her. She gripped the edge of the table, her knuckles whitening. Her carefully constructed argument disintegrated in her head. All those late nights, the prototypes, the sacrifices… all for this?

The air seemed to have thickened, making it hard to breathe. She felt a burning sensation behind her eyes.