Portal
You are not sad.
That almost makes it worse.
Mirror
There was a time when everything hurt.
Now it doesn’t.
Not clearly.
Not sharply.
Not enough to cry.
You move through the day like someone left the sound off.
Things happen.
People speak.
Time passes.
You answer correctly.
You function almost normally.
And everything looks different now.
People you know
do not look the same.
Not because they changed.
Because something between you and the world has changed.
There are familiar faces,
but they feel strangely far away.
And there are no new ones yet.
It is not the absence of feeling.
It is like living from behind glass.
But somewhere inside,
the room is empty.
This is the part no one recognizes.
Not breakdown.
Not healing.
Not peace.
Just distance.
A quiet protection that stayed too long.
It is a door your body closed
when everything became too much.
Fabric. Wood. Glass. Skin.
Don’t feel everything.
Just feel one thing.