Silent witnesses
However, everyone else sat mute, watching the spectacle develop. The weight of their gazes felt like a physical force pushing down on Chris. Nobody came up to give a nice word or a helpful hand. The room was filled with a harsh, critical stillness. Everyone there seemed to grasp that this was the end of Chris’s ruse. The truth had emerged, and there was no turning back.
Silent Witnesses
Chris’s defeat
As Dereck went away, Chris collapsed to the floor, defeated. His legs gave out beneath him, and he dropped, head in his hands. The weight of his deeds, and the consequences that were now bearing down on him, was too great to bear. The room around him appeared to fade, the murmuring of observers receding into the background. All he could feel was a crushing sense of personal failure.
Chris’s Defeat
