Gemotions

The email arrived with the subject line "Important Announcement Regarding [College Name]". Sarah stared at it, the words blurring. Her coffee grew cold in her hand as she scrolled through the details. The university, her alma mater, the place where she'd truly become herself, was shutting its doors.

She immediately found herself dialing her old roommate, Emily. The phone rang, and rang, and then finally Emily picked up, sounding sleepy. "Em, they're closing the college," Sarah blurted out. Emily was quiet for a moment, then sighed heavily. "No way," she whispered.

Sarah found herself automatically opening a photo album on her laptop. There they were, the two of them, grinning goofily at a campus bonfire, smoke billowing around them. Her throat tightened. She remembered the smell of the wood, the shared laughter, the way the night air felt on their skin. That whole world, that feeling of limitless possibility, now…gone.