Time moved, but not in the way it usually did.
Not in minutes.
Not in seconds.
But in pauses.
In glances.
In the quiet awareness that something was missing.
The meeting continued, at least on the surface.
Voices rose and fell in controlled discussion, reports were referenced, projections debated, strategies suggested and refined. Anyone walking in halfway through would assume everything was running exactly as it should.
But beneath it
Something lingered.
The empty chair.
It sat there without apology.
Untouched.
Unclaimed.
Yet impossible to ignore.
Every now and then, someone’s eyes would drift toward it before quickly returning to their documents, as though looking too long might draw attention to something they didn’t understand.
“The production numbers from last quarter e
