June 10th 2025.
The afternoon sunlight filtered through the curtains of Joanna's room, warming the bed where she sat with her legs crossed beneath her. Her laptop rested on a small foldable stand over her thighs, and a PDF document filled the screen in front of her.
At first, she had opened the email with excitement. Nervous excitement, sure, but still excitement. She had spent the better part of the last week checking her inbox constantly, refreshing university portals every few hours even when she knew decisions wouldn't magically appear faster because of it.
Now, though, the excitement had completely faded from her face.
Her eyes moved slowly across the words on the screen.
"Dear Miss Joanna Maria Jimenez,
Thank you for your application to the University of Manchester for the Bachelor of Science programme in Biochemistry…"
Her lips pressed together slightly as she kept reading.
"…we regret to inform you…"
That was enough already.
