Gemotions

"Impossible!" Sarah shrieked, the word tearing from her throat. She stared at the magazine, its glossy cover reflecting back her distorted image. Her article, the one she’d bled for, was presented with a different name. Her heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic drumbeat in her ears.

Sarah tore at her hair, the strands catching in her fingers. The room felt suddenly too small, the air thick with an invisible pressure. All the work, the sacrifices, the hours spent hunched over her laptop, vanished.

She grabbed her phone, her fingers fumbling with the numbers as she tried to call her editor. The dial tone felt like a mocking laugh. The world had shifted on its axis. She was left standing on the edge of a chasm.