Gemotions

The world narrowed to the confines of the computer screen. She felt trapped, suffocated by the digital space and the glaring grade. Her breath came in short, shallow gasps. She wanted to scream, to shatter the fragile silence of the library. Her vision blurred, and the words on the page danced before her eyes.

She bit down hard on her lip, tasting blood. She imagined the disapproval, the judgment, from her peers, her family. She felt a terrible hollowness, a sense of falling, of being utterly alone. She wanted to disappear. She closed her eyes, seeking refuge in the darkness, but the image of that dreaded grade burned behind her eyelids.