Gemotions

The acceptance letter felt like a lead brick in Elara’s hand. The embossed crest of the university mocked her. She hadn't even unpacked. Her dorm room still bore the sterile emptiness of the just-moved-in. She slammed the door, the sound echoing the hollow ache in her chest. She sank onto the unmade bed, running a hand through her unwashed hair. The email from the financial aid office, now deleted, had revealed the truth: a clerical error, a misplaced name. The scholarship money, the one that meant she could eat, could breathe, was not hers. She was supposed to be someone else.