20

• Frizzled hair surrounded by loud chatter and cracked voices that parallel the best day of their lives. Who would have thought a show of expression would bring this out of them

15

• Stumbling through the crowded room with her eyes piercing the veil. On the path toward discovery with enough fear to numb the joy

10

• Thundering claps and speeches with embellished words to make the evening feel less cutthroat

5

• Air trapped in a bubble, far from her reach as she clambers for any chance at life. Arms quickly surround her in an attempt to add color back to her cracking skin but her anxiety is working faster

0

• Her eyes will shut and everything that ever mattered no longer will. The only thing known to her would be the glowing praises and lack of regard for her existence. She did not need to be anything because she became everything.

“Everything” enough to be authentic but “nothing” enough for a collapsed sense of self

She would kill her ego over and over to chase those stars again