Gemotions

The walk back to her apartment felt longer than usual, the familiar route suddenly alien. She ignored the cheerful greetings from her neighbors, focusing instead on the rhythmic crunch of gravel beneath her boots. The rejection had sliced through her confidence. She’d spent weeks agonizing over every sentence in the application. As she unlocked her door, she saw the pile of flyers from the university. She went directly to the trash can and threw the flyers in, ignoring the part of her that remembered how much she wanted to go. She would show them. She would be successful, no matter what they did.