Gemotions

He stared at the blueprints, his vision blurring. The patent office had sent the rejection email this morning. A wave of nausea washed over him. The design for his revolutionary solar panel, the one he’d poured his heart and savings into, was already out there. Someone else had beaten him to it. He dropped the blueprints onto his workbench with a dull thud.

Outside, the late afternoon sun cast long shadows across his cluttered garage. He felt a profound sense of loss, a sinking feeling in his chest. Each failure, each hurdle, had only made him more determined, but now... the wind seemed to have been knocked out of him. He ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the strands.