Gemotions

The coffee shop buzzed with a Saturday morning energy he couldn't match. He should be happy, shouldn't he? His essay, the one about his grandmother and the garden, was now a model for aspiring students, featured on a major educational website. He saw it on the screen of the customer in front of him. He stared at the screen, a strange hollowness filling him. He'd poured his heart into it, but it felt… irrelevant now, a finished painting hanging on a wall, gathering dust.

He watched the barista make a complicated latte, the steam curling up like a lost thought. He took his own coffee. It was too hot. He sipped it slowly, letting the heat burn in his mouth.