Space

It was the way he used words that changed things. When he thought a second before speaking, considered the options, the consequences of some, the benefits of others, the truth of all of them, he began to see the way out. He was carried in a stream of words was drowning in them. He failed to see the power they had over him. They were an unbroken chain that extended back to some imagined slight. Only when he began to tame them did they become servants to his life rather than masters of it. Only when he saw them for what they were and learned about space did they relent. Might as well complain about the rain he thought to himself as they pelted him with their insistence. When he found nothing, the blank page of here and now, only then did the story truly begin.