The news infuriated him. It had been hanging over his head like a dark sky, pregnant with rain for weeks, but to hear it out loud made it unequivocally real. It could no longer be denied; a secret exposed in bold capitals on the cover of glossy gossip magazine. The words kept circling his brain, urging his thoughts forward in a direction he did not want to go, forced to explore the place where the possibilities were severely limited, a mere shadow of the bright future one dreams of when nobody is watching. Even if the decline is barely noticeable, the mind already sees where the ship is heading; it is hard to fool oneself. He remembered the last time, how it had ended in a defeated sense of resignation.