You are not alone.

The chair is still there. I keep walking around it like the room would notice if I moved it.

I got dressed. That is the whole report. Some days that is the work.

I miss the easy version of us. I do not know if we can get back there without breaking more.

I can be around people and still feel like I am watching from the hallway.

A certain song still turns the room into then. I let it play once and then I change it.

My phone is full of names. I still do not know who I can send the true sentence to.

I keep the list in my head: meds, meals, the look on their face when the day is too much.

I became the strong one without applying for it. I do not know where to set that down.

We still share a life on paper. In the room, we pass each other like polite strangers.

My thoughts keep circling the same drain. I am naming it here so it is not only in my head.

I can be fine for a stretch. Then a small sound opens a door I thought I had closed.

I can talk about ordinary things. The hard part is the pause after someone asks how I am.