Warm light filtered through tall blinds, illuminating the dark, polished shelves stacked with legal texts. The faint smell of leather and paper hung in the air, and the tick of a wall clock clashed with the soft hum of city traffic outside the large window. The atmosphere was orderly, quiet, and nearly perfect.

Yet, the same couldn’t be said for Cary’s mind.

He paced back and forth in front of his desk. It was a simple case... what was there to worry about? He had dealt with many lawsuits. But today he felt different, off, even. He was unusually anxious; he checked his watch periodically, watching it tick down to trial time. He found himself looking over the files three, four, five times... he had everything planned out. Yet the idea of messing it up, everything not going to plan, intimidated him more than he’d like to admit. His mind was a swirl of possibilities; he made sure he had every possible situation planned out. Yet, with each solution sprouted another “what if?” that gnawed away at him slowly.