Gemotions

John felt the color drain from his face as he read the letter. His scholarship, the key to his education, was not his at all. It belonged to another student. He slumped in his chair, the weight of the news pressing him down.

He thought about the phone calls to his family, the hopeful conversations. He felt a hotness spread through him, a mixture of shame and despair. He reread the letter, each word a physical blow. He felt the blood pounding in his ears.

He pictured the other student, the rightful recipient. He wanted to shout, to rail against the injustice. Instead, he sat there, frozen, the paper clutched in his sweaty hand, the future he'd so carefully planned slipping away.