TEN
Reprieve
Walking to the school had all but drained him. Kai had been buzzing with energy, narrating the entirety of their relatively short journey. Though it had not taken them long to reach their destination, Kai had a way of grinding down his audience with a torrent of dialogue. In truth, he barely recalled a word of the child’s endless enthusiastic prattle – for which he felt bad. Yet his inability to remember their one-sided conversation had little to do with his normally keen ability to recall events. Instead, the complete insignificance of Kai’s words meant that he had struggled to hold onto any of the details regarding their conversation, the child’s words merging into a continuous stream of inane babble. By contrast, the school itself had left a lasting impression on hi
