Absence is not emptiness.
It's a shape.
The city woke into it quietly—the subtle hollow where constant oversight used to press. No instructions arrived overnight. No reminders chimed at dawn. No corrective messages followed early actions.
The silence wasn't relief.
It was room.
✦
Arjun felt it immediately as we moved through the central corridor.
"Something's missing," he said.
"Yes," I replied."And everyone can feel where it used to be."
✦
The other Ishaan aligned, voice calm and exact.
When control withdraws, he said,it leaves a negative imprint.
✦
By midmorning, the space began to assert itself.
Decisions happened faster—not because people rushed, but because they didn't wait. Questions that once climbed hierarchies stopped halfway and resolved themselves locally.
No escalation.No permission-seeking.
✦
A team rerouted a task without logging it upward.
It worked.
✦
Arjun raised an eyebrow."They didn't ask."
"Yes," I said."And nothing punished them."
✦
