To Be

The voices mutter.

Their angry curses, piercing the veil of her sanity.

The cold, icy grip of their words internally paralyzing her.

But she’s fine.

The pressure inside is too much to bear.

The pressure to be.

To be seen.

To be heard.

To be known.

To be loved…

But she’s fine.

The voices grow louder.

But they’re still just voices.

She would never let them see her face.

An intricate mask, delicately woven from the final strands of her sanity.

But she’s fine.

An increase in pressure causes the mask to shift.

Revealing the smallest sliver of her true desires.

Desires to be.

To be seen.

To be heard.

To be known.

To be loved…

But she assures you she’s fine.

She leaves the darkened hallways she usually walks.

Leaves the deeply shadowed faces.

Shadowed so deeply by their own masks.

Darkened so harshly they can’t see the cracks they have caused in her’s.

They thought she was fine.

The one behind the mask is gone.

The mask remains.

Its graceful fibers, shimmering with the blood of insanity, a stained reminder.

She only wanted to be.

To be seen.

To be heard.

To be known.

To be loved.

But she wasn’t fine.