Sometimes (A Short Story)

(Published: 2018/08/24)

Sometimes you cry and no one hears you.

Sometimes you feel like the world’s tumbling down towards you like a meteor with the intent of extinction.

Sometimes you cry so hard you try to hide it from yourself as much as you try to hide it from everyone around you because you think you’ll be happier if you never think of sadness. You’re wrong.

Sometimes I even meet someone like me. Someone with an endless chasm growing inside them like a tumour. I hold these people close because they are the only ones who understand. But they’re not my friends. I see them walking down the street but I don’t say a word. I hold them close only like a wizard would hold souls in a bottle. By now, I’ve met so many like me, when I look at myself in the mirror I am a million souls at once. I look at myself as all those people who see the world as I do, get treated as I do, and feel as endlessly despairing as I do. And when the mirror asks me if I’m still sane, I tell it the truth.

“But if anyone asks, tell them we’re fine.”

(from the writing prompt, “But if anyone asks, tell them we’re fine.”)