That, folks, was the end of 'Closing Doors', as the last sentence carries a huge amount of freight for those who know the full extent of Mike's story. I feel it wraps up the story arc neatly, and didn't want to over-egg things. As I explained in a comment, it is the reason I chose Diane as the narrative voice, so as to bring neutrality to events that will have left Mike incoherent.

Maddy mentioned a 'debrief', but that is something I feel would jar, and dilute the impact of the ending. I had intended to leave the story there, but nope. Couldn't resist, so am now 800 words into a follow-up story, from Mike's viewpoint. It is likely to end up rather self-indulgent, for obvious reasons.

Working title is 'Routes', which is, naturally, a pun.