Gemotions

The professor’s words, usually a source of comfort, now grated on her nerves. Chloe focused on the lecture, but her mind was elsewhere. Her mind kept going back to that meeting with the financial aid office. The paperwork. The error. The truth.

She tapped her pen against her desk, the repetitive clicking a nervous metronome. The university's grand library seemed to shrink, the walls closing in. She felt a compulsion to flee, to be somewhere, anywhere, else. The warmth of the room felt stifling. Outside, the afternoon sun cast long shadows, mimicking the long shadow of the news.