Gemotions

The email arrived like a punch to the gut. Dr. Aris would be departing at the end of the semester. Maya stared at the words, the screen blurring. Her fingers tightened around her lukewarm coffee, knuckles white. How was this possible? How could she continue her research, her entire degree, without his guidance? She felt a cold dread creep up her spine.

She reread the announcement, her breath catching. The university offered to reassign students to new advisors, but the thought filled her with a sense of unease. None of the other professors had the same expertise, the same gentle way of explaining complex concepts. She felt adrift, the familiar landscape of her academic life suddenly unstable.

That evening, she found herself unable to eat. The pasta sat, congealing, on her plate. She picked at it with a fork, the food tasting like cardboard. The silence in her apartment was deafening, the shadows seeming to stretch and deepen. The weight in her chest was almost unbearable.