Gemotions

Clara walked across the quad, a half-eaten sandwich in her hand. The email notification vibrated in her pocket. She stopped, her feet suddenly frozen. The college was shutting down. Her stomach lurched, and she dropped the sandwich, the bread landing face down on the grass.

She felt a strange mixture of numbness and a building panic. The vibrant, bustling campus, the home she had found and cherished, was suddenly a ghost town. She imagined the empty classrooms, the abandoned dorms, the hollow echoes of laughter that would soon be gone.

She started walking again, her pace quickening, as though she could outrun the news. Tears stung her eyes. The dream she had been building was dissolving before her eyes.