Just hours earlier, Carl had been in a completely different headspace. He had arrived at the airport early, moving with the tired efficiency of someone who had been travelling for work for too many years. He had come from Boston after a brief business trip, one of those tight, compressed visits where you land, sprint through meetings, and leave without ever properly seeing the city.
The last couple of days had been a blur of conference rooms, rushed coffees, and conversations that never really ended. Even when people stopped talking, his mind kept going, replaying figures, arguments, and the tiny details that could decide whether a deal went through or fell apart.
Carl was a senior project manager at a large tech firm, the sort of role that looks impressive on paper and quietly drains you in practice. Tight deadlines, high expectations, and constant pressure to deliver results, with little patience for human limits. He was used to it, but that did not mean it was easy.
