Gemotions

The announcement was made during the weekly lab meeting. Sarah was scribbling notes on the latest data when Professor Ramirez began to speak. Her pen froze mid-stroke, poised over the page. Her head snapped up. The room swam into view.

Everything seemed to amplify: the whirring of the centrifuge, the hum of the fluorescent lights, the nervous shuffling of feet. Sarah’s palms began to sweat. She could feel her pulse hammering in her ears, a frantic drumbeat against the silence that followed the professor's pronouncement. She stared at Professor Ramirez, struggling to formulate a question, any question. But her throat felt like sandpaper.