Surviving Within the Lines

Society built its rules so 

we could live in harmony.

Or so I wanted to believe.

But once you step outside those bounds,

you begin to see

not harmony, but hierarchy. 

Not care, but control.

People in poverty. 

People who are different. 

People who lost their way under the pressure to stay within the lines. 

They become eyesores. 

Uncomfortable reminders. 

So society turns the blind eye. 

Makes them unseen. 

Pushes them out.

I managed to blend in somehow. 

This act. 

This mask I wear every time I step out of my home.

But not everyone can do that.

And once you step out of the light, going back is terrifying.

What if they see through the mask? 

What if I become a burden,

What if I become invisible

like all the others?

That fear

it’s what keeps us quiet. 

Not because we don’t want to open up, 

To reach out for help,

but because we’ve seen how quickly people turn away.

I’ve lived it.

I opened up once

to people I thought were close to me. 

I shared the weight I was carrying. 

And slowly, they faded from my life. 

I was too much. 

Too heavy. 

Too broken.

I heard once that a true friend

is someone who can hear you even when you’re quiet.

Apparently, 

I didn’t have one. 

At least not one who’s still here with us.

So we choose. 

We either give up

Or endure the pain of putting on the mask every single day.

Not to deceive. 

But to survive