Decisions: They come on us suddenly

Poor, poor William. It seemed to him as if his life truly could not get any worse. Why didn't Sisi love him? Why was Chichang dead? Where the hell was Mike Kevinson? It all went round in his head, to the point where he began to feel nauseous. He decided that a bit of fresh air was in order, and left his house, going out into the streets. He walked for a long time; he knew not where.

After quite some time had passed, he found himself still feeling utterly dreadful, and sat down on a bench. He had just that day recieved a report from his tutor on how his grades were doing, and had been devasted. He wasn't even getting an E in this year's work. It seemed the past two years had been totally pointless. What did he have to show for them? No girlfriend, no friend, no grades, and certainly no Mike Kevinson. But, why should he look up to that man any more, anyway?! He was a fiend, a beast! He had stolen Sisi! And just what reason would a man such as he have for seducing a young woman anyway?!

William sighed. He could add "no one to look up to" to his list. He got up and started walking again, aimlessly. He wandered through the many streets of the town, at one point passing by a tramp by the side of the shops.

"Here, mate," The tramp called out softly, "Are you alright?"

Alarmed at being asked this by none other than a tramp, William paused to speak with him. "No, I'm not, to be honest with you. I'm in a slough of despondancy."

"A slough of despondancy, eh?" The tramp said, and shook his head. "I have no idea what that means, but you look like you could do with a hot drink. Here, have some change."

"Ah, no thank you." William answered. "Don't you usually collect change, rather than giving it out?"

"Yes, but you look like you need it more than me."

"Oh." William answered glumly, and, with his hands in his pockets, slouched away again, now feeling even worse than before.

Somehow his steps directed him in a circle, and he found himself back at the bench he had been sitting on before. It was still deserted and so he retook his place, falling into almost a stupor of misery.

Some time passed before William became aware of the crow that was perched just in front of him. It was looking at him with what could only be described as an intelligent stare. After William had been looking at it for a few moments, it dropped a twig on the floor and flew away.

Curious, William walked over to look at the twig. He suddenly realised that the square in front of him was designed to be a map of the world, laid out on the floor in brass plate set into concrete. It was very peculiar; but the crow had dropped his twig on Japan. William thought to himself for a moment.

"Mike Kevinson comes from Japan. I speak fluent Japanese. I'm not doing too well in China. I wonder..."

And just like that, without much preamble or warning, William had decided: he was going to quit university, sell his house, and move to Japan.