Gemotions

The email shimmered in Elias's inbox, a stark white rectangle against the usual flurry of lecture notes and deadline reminders. He clicked it open, the fluorescent lights of the library suddenly seeming to hum louder. The subject line, "Scholarship Review," was innocuous enough, but the contents… they made his breath hitch. A polite apology. An acknowledgment of a clerical error. A request for repayment. His scholarship, the one that had allowed him to breathe, was not, in fact, his. He stared at the screen, the words blurring, the library's familiar scent of old paper and stale coffee suddenly alien. He ran a hand through his hair, a nervous gesture he hadn't realized he was doing until his fingers snagged.