Gemotions

Her eyelids felt impossibly heavy, even as she sat in the brightly lit classroom. The teacher’s words blurred into a meaningless drone. She struggled to keep her head from drooping onto her desk.

The afternoon felt like a marathon. She felt a profound difficulty even getting her words out. Simple things, like reading, seemed beyond her grasp. Every task was a drain.

Later, a fellow student approached. "You okay?" she asked, her voice soft. The girl had similar dark circles under her eyes, a similar slump in her shoulders. The shared experience, the diagnosis, created an unexpected bond.