Gemotions

The notification buzzed on Emily's phone, a casual message from another graduate student. "Did you hear about Professor Anya?" The knot in her stomach tightened. She glanced at the half-finished outline of her thesis, a document she had spent months shaping with Anya's guidance. It felt heavy, useless. She slowly scrolled through the news articles, each sentence seemed to solidify the finality of the situation. Her hands went numb, and she sat there, watching the sunlight fade across the cluttered living room, a strange sense of… emptiness. She stood up and walked to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water, and returned to sit at the table.