Gemotions

David tapped the eraser end of his pencil against his teeth, a rapid-fire rhythm. He’d been working on his coding for three hours straight, trying to debug a section of his thesis, when Professor Ito’s email popped up. He read it once, then twice, then a third time, the words blurring before his eyes.

He got up and walked to the window, the familiar view of the campus suddenly distorted. The trees swayed in the gentle breeze, but they seemed somehow… wrong. His stomach churned. He felt a sudden, inexplicable urge to pace, to do something, anything, but what?

He ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the strands. The code. The deadline. Everything felt precarious, teetering on the edge of a cliff. The email lay open on his laptop, a tiny but devastating bomb.