Gemotions

He’d been practicing his presentation, pacing the cramped confines of his dorm room. Over and over. He knew the material backwards and forwards, could recite the arguments in his sleep. His jaw clenched as he checked his email yet again. The waiting had become a physical weight. The rejection letter arrived, crisp and brutal. He balled the page in his fist, the paper crackling like a gunshot. His heart hammered against his ribs, a frantic drumbeat in the sudden silence. He went over to the window, the image of his future shattering.