Gemotions

Maya’s coffee went cold in her hand as she scrolled. Her thumb hovered over the screen, then shot back upwards, scrubbing the newsfeed to refresh the page. There, again, was the familiar title: "How I Learned to Love Silence." Her essay. Her *essay*. The one she'd poured her heart into, the one that had gotten her into her dream school, and now… plastered across a university's admissions website. She felt a jolt, a dizzying sensation of falling.

A wave of heat flushed her cheeks. She instinctively reached up, touching her face as if checking for a fever. Her breath hitched. She remembered the late nights, the rewrites, the painstaking selection of each word. Now, anyone could read it. Anyone could… judge it.

"Well, this is a turn," she muttered, the sound barely audible above the hum of the fridge. She blinked rapidly, her gaze darting around her tiny apartment as if seeking an escape route.