Austin sat on his desk and stared at the papers spread before him in the dim light.
He wasn't reading. His thoughts kept going back to the moment when her voice broke.
You had the power but you chose not to use it.
What affected him the most was that she hadn't said it in anger. She had simply stated it as a fact.
Austin wasn't a man who revisited his decisions. He made choices and moved forward. That was how he had survived for so long on his own.
But tonight, he couldn't move forward.
He opened the drawer where declined petitions were stored. Marta's petition was at the top. He had reviewed it three days ago, signed the denial, and put it away.
But tonight, for the first time, he pulled out a petition he has already signed and read it again.
