Gemotions

Sweat prickled her skin as she stood in the cramped hallway, the stale air thick with the smell of chlorine and nervous anticipation. She kept touching the worn strap of her duffel bag, a familiar anchor in this unsettling current. Coach Reynolds was still inside, the door to his office a stark, unyielding barrier. Her teammates were murmuring nearby, a hive of whispered anxieties.

The silence in her ears was deafening. The thump of her heart was a drumbeat against her ribs. Each tick of the clock on the wall felt like a blow. She imagined the way he’d look at her when he asked her to speak.

The door opened. Her lungs constricted. The weight in her chest pushed down, and she wanted to disappear.