The sun was beginning its descent toward the horizon as I walked back from the restaurant, casting long shadows across the sidewalk that stretched and shifted with each step. The meeting with Mark had left me oddly satisfied rather than troubled. Seeing him reduced to scarred cynicism had only reinforced how far I'd moved beyond the small-minded thinking that had once seemed so compelling.
It wouldn't be the last I saw of him, I was certain of that. Mark had always been the type to hold grudges, and his current circumstances suggested he'd developed an even sharper edge to his resentments. But in all honesty, whatever he chose to do next was essentially meaningless now. He represented a chapter of my life that was definitively closed, a way of thinking about power and change that I'd outgrown completely.
