- Working title
- The Reply
- Situation
- The narrator keeps rereading a message they only need to answer with one plain sentence.
- What the narrator is avoiding, admitting or circling
- They know the answer, but sending it would make the decision real.
- Concrete detail
- The phone is face down beside a coaster with a pale ring on it.
- Emotional pressure
- A small reply has gathered the weight of a larger choice.
- Suggested first sentence
- The message needed one sentence, which was rude of it.