Moving Backwards

Paisley Quarrie sits hunched over in the dim light of her dorm room, textbooks and notebooks scattered around her like the aftermath of a storm. Her laptop screen glares at her, equations and theories half-finished, waiting for her attention. But her mind isn't there. It hasn't been for weeks. Maybe months. The once-brilliant spark she had for Astrophysics-the endless fascination with black holes, dark matter, and the mysteries of the universe-feels like it's fading, flickering out like a dying star in the vast emptiness of space.

Her thoughts, once sharp and focused, now swirl like galaxies collapsing in on themselves. Intrusive thoughts sneak in, uninvited, pressing against her brain like an unshakable fog. Each night, they crawl into her consciousness like parasites, wrapping themselves around every shred of motivation she has left. What started as a passion-an obsession even-with understanding the cosmos has turned into a mental battlefield, where Paisley isn't sure if she's fighting her coursework or her own sanity.

"Am I going crazy?" The question echoes in her mind, bouncing around like a particle trapped in a vacuum. She might be, but she might be on the cusp of something revolutionary.