The Voices In You

A boy’s fingers beat a rhythm on the table as notes leak from his outdated headphones

Chiming and discordant sounds different to that of the time,

People walk by, their eyes like dark mirrors,

Showing him everything he doesn’t want to see

He hears whispers all around,

Snippets from conversations that aren’t happening weed their way into his brain

“He’s so stupid”

The boy agrees

“He’s so fat”

The boy knows they’re right

“He has no friends”

Tears stream from his eyes

“Why does he exist”

The boy stands, wiping the tears from his eyes

He looks around at the room around him, ready to confront those that judge him

Nobody is there.

And that’s frightening.