P a r t • 1 ____________ I’ve been sleeping in a room with no corners. Because sharp edges make me remember how easy it is to bleed without a knife. How silence can cut deeper than sound. You learn to hold your breath for longer than necessary when screaming starts to feel like begging. And nobody’s listening anyway— Just echoes bouncing off padded intentions. I didn’t choose to feel everything like this -Like emotions grew fangs and kissed my spine. While whispering bedtime stories in Morse code. They taught me how to smile like a liar. That honesty was something only children and the dying could afford. So I stayed somewhere in between— Too jaded to be innocent. Too scared to be gone. There’s something so intimate about losing your will. It’s like unbuttoning your shirt in a room full of people. But nobody notices you’re naked. They just comment on the weather And ask why you don’t come out anymore. As if sunlight doesn't feel like a threat, As if existing hasn’t become A marathon I didn’t register for. Some of us build homes in our sadness. Because hope is a lease we can’t afford.