Among the Living

 

I don’t like going to social events. 

 

Not because I’m shy. 

Not because I’m an introvert. 

But because, for some time now, 

the living don’t interest me much.

 

Their conversations feel like echoes 

from a world I no longer belong to. 

They talk. 

I reply. 

But I have nothing to add. 

No follow-up questions. 

No opinions.

 

It’s not that I don’t understand. 

It’s that I don’t feel the need to engage. 

It’s like talking politics to a child

the words pass through, 

but nothing sticks.

 

I sit among the living, 

but I don’t live like they do. 

I exist. 

I observe. 

I smile when required.

 

But inside, I’m somewhere else entirely.