Gemotions

"Look, I just don't understand it," she told her friend, the words tumbling out in a breathless rush. "I sent it, I submitted it, I have the drafts…everything!" Her friend, Sarah, offered a sympathetic nod, but the words felt meaningless, the gestures empty. The article, the one she’d poured her soul into, the one that was supposed to launch her career, was now credited to a prominent academic, whose name she'd never heard of.

Sleep eluded her. She tossed and turned, the events of the last few days replaying in an endless, agonizing loop in her mind. Her pulse hammered against her ribs. She felt a burning pressure behind her eyes. She got up, the floorboards cold beneath her bare feet. The night air was thick, heavy, as she paced through her living room.

She ended up staring at her reflection in the darkened window, the woman staring back looked like a stranger, the face gaunt, eyes bloodshot. She felt a profound sense of isolation, of being adrift in a vast and uncaring sea.