Gemotions

The email arrived like a punch to the gut. *Important Announcement Regarding University Status.* Sarah stared at the subject line, her breath hitching. She clicked, and the words swam before her eyes: *...financial constraints... unsustainable operations... closure at the end of the academic year.*

Her coffee, forgotten, grew cold in her mug. She rose from her desk, pacing her tiny dorm room. The posters she’d painstakingly hung – concert ticket stubs, inspirational quotes – seemed to mock her. She felt a tremor in her hands, a prickling heat crawling up her neck.

She called her mother, the phone pressed hard against her ear. “Mom, they’re… they’re shutting down,” she choked out, her voice barely a whisper. The familiar voice on the other end felt a million miles away.