Puzzle

I am your average teenager

Cheerful and content

Vain and irresponsible

Carefree like all the rest

I have no concerns,

except on how I dress

I never get depressed.

Mental illness is shameful

Do my best to hide it

Because mother will never understand and father

Where is he?

I reach out to teachers, friends, counsellors

“Relax,” they tell me

I fake every passing day

I do not know who I am

I remember the day I cracked.

Ten years of depression

Ten years of tears

Ten years of anger

Ten years of fear

I finally felt free

Did it reached them?

No. I shouldn’t have expected it,

But I had bit the apple and tasted freedom

and I won’t let go of it.

I am not a sheep,

A tool for your retirement, or

Your punching bag for stress relief

I am not your obligation.

I am your average teenager

Trying to glue myself back together.

Piece by piece I’m collecting

the puzzle that is

Me.