Draven's POV
I file the non-participation declaration on a Tuesday afternoon and feel nothing about it except relief, which lasts approximately four hours before it becomes something more complicated.
The form is simple. One page, a box for name, a box for the year, a signature line. No reason required. The headmistress receives it without comment because she has learned over three years that pushing me on formal decisions is an inefficient use of her time.
I am not afraid of the bond. I want to be clear about that, at least to myself, in the private accounting that happens in the hour before sleep when there is no performance required and the honest version of things is the only version available. Fear would be simpler. Fear has a response. You address the thing causing the fear or you
