The ordeal is finally over and the innocent are safe. You return to your normal life, carrying out your everyday duties, but as the weeks pass you seem to see the world as though through a grey pall. Activities you used to find pleasurable are now mechanical as though going through the motions, and you feel no interest in the day-to-day travails and triumphs of your friends and family.
You become more guarded and quick to anger. One night you find yourself sketching out the design of one of the trolley problems you had to solve. You erase a line in the drawing and place it somewhere else, seeing an elegant fix for an obvious flaw in the original design. Now every night you’re sketching out more improved trolley problems. It’s fine though; nobody is getting hurt.
You suddenly realise your best friend has been talking to you for the best part of an hour and you completely phased out, thinking of your latest design. People are so irritating and self-absorbed. Someone should give them something to really talk about…