Gemotions

"No, I don't understand," Amelia said, her voice barely a whisper. The financial aid officer’s words hung in the air, heavy and blunt. An error. A mix-up. Her scholarship, gone. She felt a dizzying pressure in her head, as if her skull was about to crack.

She clutched her worn backpack, her knuckles white. Her carefully constructed life, built on academic achievement, was suddenly precarious. The image of the ramen dinners and the shared, cramped apartment she would be forced to return to filled her mind. A wave of nausea washed over her. She excused herself, stumbling out of the office and into the bustling hallway. The noise, the lights, the movement – it all felt overwhelming.