Gemotions

The email notification popped on her phone and a surge of excitement raced through Ava. It was the email she’d been waiting for, the one confirming the publication. She clicked the link, her fingers trembling slightly. There it was: her story, her characters, her meticulously crafted plot, published in the esteemed literary journal. It wasn't her name on the byline, but that didn't matter.

She bit her lip, trying to contain the grin that threatened to explode across her face. This was real. She had something in her. Something that mattered. This single act of plagiarism did not change the power of what she had written. She jumped up, pacing her apartment, words already forming in her mind for the next story, the next masterpiece. She couldn't wait.