Gemotions

"So, they just…left?" The words felt absurdly loud in the otherwise hushed archive. He leaned against the shelf, feeling the cold steel press against his back. Professor Moreau, his mentor, had retired. No warning, no goodbyes, just an empty space where his desk had been.

He ran a hand over the spines of the books, the familiar touch offering no comfort. The task ahead, to sort through the backlog of documents, seemed insurmountable. The weight of responsibility pressed down on him, and he felt a growing sense of being confined, enclosed by the endless stacks of paper. He felt a physical strain, a burden on his shoulders that threatened to buckle him.