Gemotions

The rejection letter crackled in his hands, a flimsy piece of paper that held the weight of his dashed hopes. He stared at it, the words blurring before his eyes. He’d spent years perfecting the algorithm, the code, the entire concept. His dream was reduced to a few bureaucratic sentences, a cold summary of his failures.

His hands shook as he set the paper down. He felt a strange tingling in his extremities, a sensation of being disconnected from his own body. He stood up abruptly and walked to the window. The city outside, usually a source of inspiration, seemed to mock him with its relentless optimism.

He felt the familiar knot in his stomach tightening, squeezing the air from his lungs. He was trapped.