Gemotions

The weight of the impending announcement pressed down on Clara's chest, making it hard to take a full breath. She clutched her phone, her knuckles white. She had been putting off checking her email, a nagging intuition whispering that something was wrong.

She had to read the email, the words swam before her eyes. Her vision blurred. Her stomach twisted into knots. The familiar campus, outside her window, seemed to shift and distort, as if the buildings were swaying.

She bolted up from the table and walked out the door. She didn’t know where she was going, but she had to move, to escape the suffocating realization that her plans, her dreams, were suddenly in jeopardy.