Gemotions

He sat on the steps of the grand university hall, watching students stream in and out, their faces alight with purpose. The news, the revelation that the scholarship had been given to the wrong person, had knocked him sideways. He was lost.

He remembered the early days of his freshman year, the optimism, the sense of belonging. The feeling had dissipated, replaced by a hollow echo. He thought of his parents and their sacrifices.

He ran a hand through his hair, a gesture of frustration. He stared at his own hands, the hands that would have learned so much. He closed his eyes. The grand hall, a symbol of everything he'd lost, seemed to mock him. The campus, once a dream, was now a tomb.